The impact of biweekly reading assignments on student science literacy and self-perception of competence in the science classroom

Abstract

Students struggle with reading and comprehending science texts. This study involved giving 11th grade chemistry students biweekly (every other week) reading assignments with the goal of improving science literacy and student perception of their own competence in science. Students were given a pretest and a self-confidence survey. A smaller sample of students were interviewed about their attitudes about science learning and reading. Throughout the study students were given more posttests to gather data, and at the conclusion of the study the self-confidence surveys and interviews were repeated. This study found a statistically significant difference in student literacy scores after the treatment. There was not a statistically significant difference in student confidence.