Premium
Teaching Scientific Metaphors Through Informational Text Read‐Alouds
Author(s) -
Barnes Erica M.,
Oliveira Alandeom W.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the reading teacher
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.642
H-Index - 50
eISSN - 1936-2714
pISSN - 0034-0561
DOI - 10.1002/trtr.1634
Subject(s) - scientific literacy , metaphor , psychology , mathematics education , scientific misconceptions , narrative , literacy , function (biology) , teaching method , primary education , science education , pedagogy , linguistics , philosophy , evolutionary biology , biology
Elementary students are expected to use various features of informational texts to build knowledge in the content areas. In science informational texts, scientific metaphors are commonly used to make sense of complex and invisible processes. Although elementary students may be familiar with literary metaphors as used in narratives, they may be less familiar with how metaphors function in science. In this article, the authors describe how teaching with scientific metaphor during informational text read‐alouds can help elementary students become more cognizant of scientific metaphoricity and develop scientific literacy. Practical examples from two elementary classrooms are included.