using Lost Tools of Writing for science essays

[anabelneri]

Hello all!

 

I'm just starting to use the Lost Tools of Writing with my 8th grader, and I really like it. But I could use a hand figuring out how to assign non-literature writing topics, especially science. I was trying to dream up some topics using the "Five Common Topics of Invention," and I have an idea of how it'll work but dd can't - she is having a hard time separating the tools from the literary examples given.

 

So, can anyone share science essays written with LToW? And I'm also wondering how much extra research your kids had to do to write a science essay, beyond the information they already had from their science curriculum/class?

 

Thanks so much!

Anabel

[Another Lynn]

Since LTW is designed to teach persuasive writing, it would be useful if you had a science topic with persuasive element. I think that's less likely in science than in other topics. It would be useful for history - Should X have done Y? Lots of science writing (particularly k-8) would be to inform, to explain a process, to classify, to compare or contrast, etc. Jmho.

[anabelneri]

Since LTW is designed to teach persuasive writing, it would be useful if you had a science topic with persuasive element. I think that's less likely in science than in other topics. It would be useful for history - Should X have done Y? Lots of science writing (particularly k-8) would be to inform, to explain a process, to classify, to compare or contrast, etc. Jmho.

 

That's a good point, thank you. 

 

I think there is some persuasion needed in science, but as a non-scientist I'm not totally sure what that looks like.

 

If anyone else has ideas, that'd be awesome! I'm off to check on the LToW Yahoo group and to ask my question of a scientist.

 

:)

Thanks!

Anabel

[HSMWB]

I agree that other topics lend themselves to using lost tools of writing easier. The idea is to write a pursuasive essay, and each new essay builds on the tools learned writing the previous essay. If I was going to try and build some issues with science I would probably use topics like 'should stem cell research be legal' or 'should scientist X receive public funding for research Y' or 'should animal A be housed next to animal B at a zoo' maybe. But I think I would be more likely to use history, current events, or literature as a tie-in subject personally.

[Targhee]

That's a good point, thank you.

 

I think there is some persuasion needed in science, but as a non-scientist I'm not totally sure what that looks like.

 

If anyone else has ideas, that'd be awesome! I'm off to check on the LToW Yahoo group and to ask my question of a scientist.

 

:)

Thanks!

Anabel

Scientific writing, at least purely scientific writing, is not meant to persuade. It is meant to be as objective as possible. In fact the best scientific writing presents the information so clearly and the analysis so objective that anyone else would draw the same conclusions as the author.

 

Perhaps you are thinking if journalism on scientific topics (which sadly is usually not objective as it should be)? Or perhaps you are wanting your student to support a persuasive non-scientific thesis with scientific evidence? Maybe ethics of science like "whether people people clone their pets...". That would be an interesting essay, and could use proofs which include scientific evidence, but it would not be scientific writing but ethics.

 

We also use LToW with my 8th grader, and it's very helpful for her because she normally writes in a very factual and objective way and it teaches her to do much the opposite. She's actually taking an opinion (reasoned, but still an opinion) on something and supporting her opinion.

 

LToW 1 doesn't really cover expository essays either, like "explain the theme of power over nature found in the novel." They are simply persuasive - ask a moral or philosophical question and answer it with reason and support. It's an excellent course not only in writing but thinking too. However, scientific writing is a whole different animal.