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Written Communication
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Fourth Graders Composing Scientific Explanations About the Effects of Pollutants

Writing to Understand

Marilyn J. Chambliss

Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 marilyn{at}umd.edu

Lea Ann Christenson

University of Maryland, College Park

Carolyn Parker

University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Explanation as a genre may support children’s reasoning and understanding particularly effectively. In this study, 20 fourth graders were given the task of explaining the effects of a pollutant on an ecosystem to third graders. Before writing, they completed a commercially developed science unit, instruction in reading and writing an explanation, and text reading. An analysis of their writings revealed that all children used rhetorical devices to connect with third-grade readers. Sixteen children synthesized text content with personal experiences to compose subexplanations that reported information, gave examples, and presented scenarios and that were logically ordered to enhance reader understanding. Nine of these children explicitly used the scientific model to explain phenomena. Outcomes suggested that writing explanations supported children’s reasoning about and understanding of an important scientific model.

Key Words: explanation • writing to understand • writing across the curriculum • genre learning

Written Communication, Vol. 20, No. 4, 426-454 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/0741088303260504
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