Literacy

In Science, students develop literacy capability as they explore and investigate. They comprehend and compose texts, including those that give information; describe events and phenomena; recount experiments; present and evaluate data; give explanations; and present ideas, opinions and claims. They comprehend and compose multimodal texts, such as charts, graphs, diagrams, pictures, maps, animations, models and visual media. Language structures and text structures are used to link information and ideas, give descriptions and explanations, formulate hypotheses and construct evidence-based arguments capable of expressing an informed position.

Scientific vocabulary is often technical and includes specific terms for concepts and features of the world, as well as terms that encapsulate an entire process in a single word, such as photosynthesis. Language is therefore essential in providing the link between the concept itself and student understanding, and assessing whether the student has understood the concept.