1	Leadership Institute for Latino Literacy (LILL) Literacy in the Science Classroom: Text Structure and Science Textbooks Carolyn Parker
2	Science Textbooks Are typically informational in structure Present unique challenges to readers. Requires different reading and thinking skills than reading fiction. Teacher must explicitly teach how to effectively use a science textbook, especially to struggling readers.
3	Readers in science must: Understand specialized vocabulary terms and phrases that are unique to the discipline. Understand vocabulary terms and phrases that have different meanings when used in the discipline. Interpret scientific symbols and diagrams. Recognize and understand organizational patterns common to science texts.
4	Readers in science must: Make sense of text structure and page layout that may not be user friendly. Infer implied sequences and recognize cause-and-effect relationships. Infer main ideas and draw conclusions that may not be explicitly stated. Use inductive and deductive reasoning skills.
5	Organizational Patterns in the Science Text: Five are most common Comparison/contrast Similarities and Differences Concept Definition Common characteristics Description Observation of data collection
6	Organizational Patterns in the Science Text: Five are most common Generalization/principle Writing about a hypothesis and supporting (or non) evidence Cause-Effect or Process Cause and effect of a phenomena or characterstics of a process
7	Cause and Effect Begin by explaining that understanding the text structure of a reading can improve comprehension. Provide a one-or two paragraph passage that exemplifies the organizational pattern.
8	Cause and Effect Give students a second passage that exemplifies the pattern. Demonstrate with a concept map how to capture the pattern visually. Finally, have the students write a paragraph using the same pattern.