The AAAS Writing about Science Gallery

The National Gallery of Writing is a virtual space—a website—where people who perhaps have never thought of themselves as writers—mothers, bus drivers, fathers, veterans, nurses, firefighters, sanitation workers, stockbrokers—select and post one thing they have written that is important to them. Sponsored by National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) the Gallery accommodates any composition format—from word processing to photography, audio recording to text messages—and all types of writing—from letters to lists, memoirs to memos. AAAS, through Science NetLinks, is partnering with NCTE to host a themed gallery on the National Gallery of Writing website called The AAAS Writing about Science Gallery.

 

The AAAS Writing about Science Gallery Theme:

People have been writing about science for thousands of years. It’s no wonder that science has inspired such great writing. Science tells the story of the natural world; a story that is still unfolding and waiting to be discovered. In our gallery we want you to tell us about science writing that has inspired, informed, provoked, and delighted you. Tell us about a science book, be it fiction or nonfiction, that changed the way you looked at the stars or opened your eyes to problems that needed to be solved. Tell us about an author that left you thinking that science was what you wanted to do for the rest of your life. Or write about how and why you write about science in your own life.

How the Gallery Works:

You are eligible to submit one composition (or a link to a composition already posted on the Internet) to the National Gallery. The writing will be reviewed to ensure that it meets the guidelines of the Gallery Host, and either posted to the Gallery of your choosing or referred to the Gallery of the National Council of Teachers of English. When you click the "contribute my writing now" you will be prompted for information about the piece you are submitting and about yourself. You have the option to share this information with readers through the site search engine, or to keep it sheltered from searches. Once you have provided the necessary information and permission to publish, you will have the opportunity to choose the destination Gallery where your work will appear. When your work reaches its destination Gallery, you will receive an email indicating that it has arrived and is being reviewed. Upon completion of the review, you will be notified regarding its status within 30 business days. As a contributor to the National Gallery of Writing, you will retain copyright of your writing contribution.

Using the Gallery in the Classroom:

The Gallery welcomes submissions from writers of all ages. Your students can submit something that they have written as a response to an assignment or they can write to the theme of the gallery and submit it to us. Remember that the submissions can take many forms. Students can send in text or PDF files that contain writing and/or artwork. They also can record their writing in audio or video format. Students can write poems, dramatic scenes, monologues, or songs.

The following Science NetLinks resources can provide ideas for students' submissions:

Science NetLinks Resources

Lessons    Tools
ReadWriteThink Resources   

Lessons

An Egg Is Quiet

Grade Band: K-2
Description: In this lesson, students learn about eggs and observe and describe changes in a variety of simple activities involving eggs. The lesson is written to utilize the book, An Egg Is Quiet, by Dianna Aston.

Where in the Wild?
Grade Band: K-2
Description: This lesson uses an award-winning book by the same name to help students understand that some animals have features that make them harder to find in their surroundings. Some use these features to hide from predators while others use them to help catch prey.

A Taste of Exploratopia

Grade Band: 3-5
Description: This lesson makes use of a book called Exploratopia by Pat Murphy, Ellen Macaulay, and the staff of the San Francisco-based Exploratorium, which offers more than 400 kid-friendly and teacher-helpful experiments and explorations for curious minds.

Dinosaur Eggs Discovered! Unscrambling the Clues

Grade Band: 6-8
Description: This lesson is based on a book by the same name which summarizes 1997 and 1999 expeditions to a spectacular fossil-collecting site in Patagonia where the authors discovered hundreds of eggs laid by 40-foot-long titanosaur dinosaurs on a floodplain of the Late Cretaceous age.

Team Moon

Grade Band: 6-8
Description: This Science NetLinks lesson aims to help students understand that many people doing many different types of work are involved with space travel. The lesson uses a book called Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon by Catherine Thimmesh and has students break into teams to further investigate one of the challenges of the Apollo 11 mission.

Thomas Edison for Kids

Grade Band: 6-8
Description: In this lesson, students explore the scientific knowledge behind some of Thomas Edison's inventions and the impact that his work has had on society and history. The lesson makes use of a book called Thomas Edison for Kids by Laurie Carlson.

Tigerland and Other Unintended Destinations

Grade Band: 9-12
Description: In this lesson, students receive an introduction to conservation biology via the memoirs of a scientist who has traveled throughout the world to study and defend endangered species. This lesson utilizes the book Tigerland and Other Unintended Destinations by Eric Dinerstein.

Tools

AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prizes for Excellence in Science Books
Grade Band: K-12
Description: This resource was compiled by the AAAS review journal Science Books and Films (SB&F). It contains a listing of the winners of the AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books. This prize celebrates outstanding science writing and illustration for children and young adults. AAAS and Subaru are pleased to sponsor these prizes, which promote science literacy by drawing attention to the importance of good science books. This resource provides images of the book covers along with links to reviews of the books and information about the authors and illustrators.

Book Talks with Award-Winning Science Authors
Grade Band: K-12
Description: Book Talks is a feature of the AAAS review journal Science Books and Films (SB&F), which provides podcasts of interviews with the prize-winning authors and illustrators of the AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books. This prize celebrates outstanding science writing and illustration for children and young adults.

Poetry across the Sciences
Grade Band: K-12
Description: This resource was compiled by the AAAS review journal, Science Books & Films (SB&F). It contains an essay by Davi Walders about how poetry can complement science instruction and make it richer. The resource also contains selected poems from Margaret Atwood, ee cummings, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, and Adrienne Rich. Finally, it includes lists of poems and poets in science, SB&F reviewed and recommended poetry resources, and poetry websites.

Science Reading Suggestions from Science NetLinks
Grade Band: K-12
Description: This Science NetLinks collection offers parents and others summer science reading suggestions for all age groups.

The following ReadWriteThink lessons are also useful for developing content that can be submitted to the Gallery:

ReadWriteThink Resources

Casting Shadows across Literacy and Science
Grade Band: K-2
Description: In this lesson, students read poetry that encourages aesthetic appreciation of scientific phenomena, explore scientific concepts, and develop and test hypotheses. After studying shadows, recording observations of shadows, and hearing poetry about shadows, students create their own poetic response incorporating their knowledge. Several pieces of literature appropriate for use with this lesson are suggested.

I Wonder: Writing Scientific Explanations With Students
Grade Band: K-2
Description: In this lesson, students are encouraged to ask questions about a specific topic, choose a particular question to explore in detail, and research the question using a variety of resources. Students organize their information on a TCF chart, on which they record "What we think we know," "What we have confirmed we know," and "New facts we have learned through research." They then collaboratively write a class scientific explanation of the selected question. Several pieces of literature appropriate for use with this lesson are suggested.

Rain, Ice, Steam: Using Reading to Support Inquiry about the Water Cycle
Grade Band: K-2
Description: In this lesson, students discover the repetitive cycle of water. Read-alouds introduce the topic of rain and hands-on experiments, and classroom centers teach students about how the water cycle functions. After exploring the different parts of the water cycle, students demonstrate the knowledge they have gained by working in groups to write and perform a play.

Writing Reports in Kindergarten? Yes!
Grade Band: K-2
Description: This lesson encourages young students to see themselves as writers who have a message to convey. Three different types of reports are provided to show just what kindergarteners and other young writers can do.

Explore and Write about Nature
Grade Band: 3-5
Description: In this activity from ReadWriteThink, children look closely at living things in their natural environments and then make books about what they see.

Teaching Science through Picture Books: A Rainforest Lesson
Grade Band: 3-5
Description: In this lesson, a study of the tropical rainforest is introduced through the picture book Welcome to the Green House by Jane Yolen. This science lesson, which incorporates reading, writing, and technology, is a template that can be used with other books by Jane Yolen to teach about the desert, the polar ice cap, and the Everglades.

Using Science Texts to Teach the Organizational Features of Nonfiction
Grade Band: 3-5
Description: Science captures the interest of even the most reluctant readers and writers, and this lesson supports students as they explore organizational features of nonfiction science texts such as labels, captions, headings, and fonts. Students then have an opportunity to work together with their classmates to create a two-page spread using those features to present information about their local environment (as gathered for the Square of Life Internet project). This resource includes links to student and teacher materials and to related websites. Several pieces of literature appropriate for use with this lesson are suggested.

Cosmic Oranges: Observation and Inquiry through Descriptive Writing and Art
Grade Band: 6-8
Description: This lesson employs scientific observation, descriptive writing, sketching, reading, investigation, and poetry writing to train students to use their senses and focus their attention. The lesson is designed to enhance cognitive skills used in nearly every discipline and can serve as a prelude to an inquiry project, scientific investigation, art project, or descriptive writing assignment.

Connecting with Young Adult Authors through Writing
Grade Band: 9-12
Description: This activity guides teens in reaching out to authors of books they love by composing personal letters or connecting to authors through their websites or blogs. Writing in response to reading provides teens with another way to make sense of their reactions to a book. Writing to an author gives teens an audience for their thoughts and a way to become more knowledgeable about the author's approaches to writing and publishing.

Writing about Writing: An Extended Metaphor Assignment
Grade Band: 9-12
Description: In this lesson, students use Richard Wilbur's poem "The Writer" as an inspiration as they write their own extended metaphor, describing themselves as writers. Because the activity asks students to reflect on their writing habits and process, the lesson is useful at key points in a term—at the beginning when writers are getting to know each other, at a point in the term when students need to consider changing or adding new techniques, or at the end of the term, when students reflect on their writing over the course of the class.

Submitting Materials in a Variety of Media:

The Gallery of Writing can accept submissions in a variety of media. Students can submit written pieces, but they can also submit audio file, videos, blog entries, and so on. In addition to media formats of submissions, you can encourage students to submit their entries as poems, songs, scripts, or other genres. Text submitted to the gallery must not exceed a certain length but longer pieces of writing can be linked to from other web pages. In order to submit a piece, writers must register and create a profile. Students must be over 13 to create their own profiles. For information about privacy and consent for minors please see http://galleryofwriting.org/privacy.php.

Parental Consent

The National Gallery of Writing requires a parent or guardian to consent before a child under the age of 13 can become a user of the National Gallery of Writing or to use any of the tools associated with the gallery website. In addition, during the registration process, we collect only enough personal information (i.e., parent's name and email address) necessary to obtain a parent's permission for his/her child to become an authorized user of the National Gallery of Writing.

Teachers and school administrators may provide consent on behalf of parents. Parents should consult the school's Acceptable Use Policy for more information about the school's policies and practices for protecting children on the Internet.

Complete instructions are provided on the parental consent form available on the site.