May 8-11, 2011: International Reading Association Annual Conference Presenters: Tracey Hall and Elizabeth Murray, CAST

1. Science Writer: A Universal Design
for Learning Approach to Support
Writing Science Reports
Elizabeth Murray & Tracey Hall
International Reading
Association
Literacy and Science: Exploring
Connections That Promote
Engaged Learning
May 8, 2011

2. CAST is
currently
located in
Harvard Mills
Square,
Wakefield, MA.

3. Mission
Founded in 1984, CAST is a
not-for-profit organization
whose mission is to expand
educational opportunities
for individuals with
disabilities through the
development and
innovative uses of
technology.

4. Universal Design for Learning
Three Principles
1. Multiple Means
of Representation
2. Multiple Means
of Action and
Expression
3. Multiple Means
of Engagement
http://sciencewriter.cast.org

12. Rubrics to Support Content Revisions
Introduction Methods
Conclusion
Results

14. RESEARCH VERSION OF
SCIENCE WRITER
Additional features:
1. Progress monitoring
2. Practice
3. Teacher side

15. Student view of Progress Monitoring

16. Teachers and students can view Progress
Monitoring results

17. Teacher view of class Progress
Monitoring results

18. Science Writer Research
Schools
• Four in suburban Boston
• Four in Lawrence, KS
Subjects
• Science Writer – 396
• Word Processing – 212

19. Science Writer Research
Background Measures
• Gates-MacGinitie
• Keyboarding
Writing Measures (content & mechanics)
• Baseline report (pretest)
• Final report (posttest)
• Progress monitoring

20. Science Writer Research
Usage Measures
• Student surveys
• Electronic event log

21. Science Writer Research
• Both groups improved in content (F=71.51,
p<.01)
• Science Writer group showed greater
improvement than word processing group
(t=2.37, p<.05)
• 72% of students felt Science Writer helped
them improve their writing

22. Science Writer Research
Improvement in writing associated with:
• Paragraph headings and sentence starters
• Use of animated agents for hints and
modeling