Teaching and Learning Literacy by Wray David;

Author:Wray, David;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: David Fulton Publishers

Experimental reports

This is the most familiar genre of science writing to both pupils and teachers. Experimental reports have quite a standard structure: Aim – Method – Results – Conclusions. This structure is found at all levels, from early experimental reports written by primary school pupils to very sophisticated, science research reports written by laboratory scientists. The aim of the report is to establish the purpose of the experiment described, then to give a description of the methods used so that the experiment could be replicated by others, then to present the data that were collected during the experiment, and to conclude by offering an interpretation of the data – relating the conclusions to the original aims.

One of the most difficult features of this style of writing for most pupils is the use of the passive voice. So rather than using the active, saying ‘we heated the liquid’, science reports tend to say ‘the liquid was heated’. The reason for using such language is that, in science, the object of interest is the liquid not the scientists who heated it. The language of science supports the view inherent in the discipline that reality is objective, existing in its own right without the interpretations of humans. Of course, this positivist philosophy in science has been challenged: many scientists would now accept a more subjective account of the created world. The language of science has not, however, changed much, and if the aim of science teaching is to begin the process of making pupils scientifically literate – able to read and write at least basic science – then the pupils must be taught how to write in the standard genres.

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