An integrated approach to teaching writing in the sciences

First year biology courses at the University of Sydney have traditionally incorporated assessment activities requiring students to write reports. Despite increases in the size of the student cohort during the past 10 years (n=1000 – 1600), we have maintained the philosophy that writing is integral to learning biology (Moore, 1993) and to the development of generic skills. The curriculum therefore needs to reflect a sense of the importance of ‘writing as learning’ rather than just being seen as a tool for assessment, or a task for formative assessment (Keys, 1999; Lea & Street, 1998). In this way the concept of communicating meaning is seen as the main role of writing, and students can be helped to move away from a surface approach of ‘how long does it have to be?’ (Nightingale, 1988). Integration with the discipline material and structure is an essential component of the learning process such that writing also helps to develop analytical abilities, scientific knowledge construction and retention (Dorfman & Taylor, 1998). The aim of this chapter is to describe the creation of a collaborative program, involving language and learning specialists and biology staff, focusing on the significance of writing within the scientific discipline and practice, and emphasising the development of student independence and autonomy in the learning process. We used a research approach to develop the teaching program, which has been sustained and enhanced by the application of new insights from our ongoing research into student learning, as shown in Table 11.1.