Summer School

Summer school can have a profound, positive effect on student learning. Minneapolis Public Schools use several of our Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading® units in their summer school program. They see the positive results: students actively engaged in learning both science content and literacy skills. Science can motivate and inspire reluctant readers to engage with texts the way scientists do, providing a purpose and context for reading and writing. When students read, write and communicate about something they’re interested and engaged in, they’re more likely to stick with it, work hard, and make gains; what literacy experts call the “productive struggle.”

Here’s an example of student work from a short pretest at the beginning of the summer school session:

You can see that this struggling reader/writer in grade 3 has an everyday understanding of the word force, not a scientific understanding.

After a four-week immersion in the Gravity and Magnetism unit from the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading program, this young scientist developed a much more comprehensive understanding of force as a scientific concept:

 

We’re proud of the hard work these Minneapolis students (and their teachers) put in over the summer and the learning gains they made. This summer school implementation is inspiring more science-focused summer school programs across the country and we hope this immersion into the role of scientists encourages these students to choose STEM career paths!