How I improve student writing. Yes, it is possible.

Sorry I missed the discussion for the June 30 post by College Misery on "How do you actually improve student writing? Is it even possible?"  I'm in the process of doing the final editing and proofreading for my intro-astronomy, general-ed textbook (now I know how my grandfather Viktor felt with his monster at his throat), but here's what I wanted to post:

I put a heavy emphasis on writing in my general-ed intro-astronomy class for non-majors. One reason I do this is because I'm supposed to, it being a general-ed class. Another, more cynical reason is that the students sure can't do math, and we do have to fill the class time with something constructive. Yet another reason that I think it matters. When I attended public school in a state not especially noted for education, I had the superb good luck of having four good English teachers in a row. The last was such a good writing teacher, I placed out of first-year comp when I got to college. Here in Fresno we have horrible public schools, and I feel genuinely sorry for many of my students. This helps to keep me going.

Of course I get "WHY ARE YOU MAKING US WRITE, THIS ISN'T AN ENGLISH CLASS." I tell my students that writing is an essential part of science. Many times during the history of science, important results were ignored because the scientists involved did a poor job of writing about the results in ways that other people could understand easily. Much of science is difficult enough to understand, without making it worse with bad writing. You don't need a polished literary style here (I confess I stole this line from The Astrophysical Journal's "Notes for authors"): just make everything you write clear and easy to understand.

Many of my students do get this. It helps to tell them more than once, throughout the semester. It also helps to remind them that what we want shouldn't be just an opinion piece: it should be more like a scientific paper. Go read up on something, and report on what you learned, in a way that someone else could easily follow. It's not that I'm not interested in your opinions: it's that facts are more convincing than opinions, because they tell the story better.

Throughout the semester, I have my students do a series of writing exercises. Most are short. One reason for this is that I get no help with grading this class of often 100+. Another is that I find an exercise often doesn't have to be long to make its point.

One is to predict, by thinking about it first, which of two objects of unequal mass when dropped at the same time will hit the ground first, and then try it and write 1-3 sentences describing their prediction and what they observed when they try it. Done right, both objects should hit the ground at the same time, of course: many students remember this, because it surprises them. (Most predict the more massive object will hit first, just like Aristotle did.)

Another is to explain, in 1-3 sentences that an average 9-year-old could understand, why the sky is blue. Just writing "Rayleigh scattering" won't be marked as correct, since the average 9-year-old will understand that as just two big, funny words: What do the big, funny words mean? The second part of this exercise is to write 1-3 sentences why sunsets are red. Again, just "Mie scattering" won't cut it: spouting big, funny words isn't an explanation.

The next exercise is 1-3 sentences explaining how we know Earth is round. Notice that this isn't why Earth is round: it's how do we know Earth is within 1% of being a sphere. Another is 1-3 sentences explaining how we know Earth moves around the Sun and not the other way around, and 1-3 sentences explaining how we know atoms and molecules exist, and similar question.

I also have them write 200-500 words on the Drake equation and the Fermi paradox.  Next is a paper title and 100-to-250-word summary of what their research paper will be about. Last is a 1200-word research paper, on any topic in contemporary or historical astronomy, space exploration, or related sciences.

Each week, I extensively mark up the papers with corrections. I am not naïve enough to think they read every comment. Still, the copious red ink does help: it shows I'm not kidding.

My Dad taught high-school German and Spanish. One of his favorite things he loved to hate was how much English grammar he had to teach in his German and Spanish courses. Anytime I find myself doing that, I remember this is a general-ed class: it's for general education, for exercising all my students' skills. I cover a fair amount of the philosophy of science, and history as well as mythology. If this is the only college course my students ever really take, then it's up to me to give it to them.

I often do remind my students of my office hours, and the writing center on campus where they can also get help. Some of them do come to office hours: if you want more of your students to come to office hours, remind them again, and again, throughout the semester. Repetition may be tedious, but it is highly effective as an education technique: notice that readers of this blog tend to know what I advocate for stapling to the floor, what to use to do the stapling, and what I enjoy seeing flying around the room when I do.

This is a lot of work for classes of 100+, but they do improve. Much of the improvement may be that I convey that I'm not kidding, but of course I'm a full professor with tenure, so I can.

How much do they improve? About half the graduating seniors coming into my class write less well than I could in 9th grade. (And yes, I do still have samples of my writing from 9th grade, so I do know what it's supposed to look like.) After I get done with then, I'd say that 3/4 are writing at 9th-grade level. It's not much, but I take what I can get.

I try to be as positive as possible. Having done public shows at a major planetarium for 3 years showed me a good way to present myself: approachable, but not BFFs. Education is serious business, you know.

I put a heavy emphasis on writing in my general-ed intro-astronomy class for non-majors. One reason I do this is because I'm supposed to, it being a general-ed class. Another, more cynical reason is that the students sure can't do math, and we do have to fill the class time with something constructive. Yet another reason that I think it matters. When I attended public school in a state not especially noted for education, I had the superb good luck of having four good English teachers in a row. The last was such a good writing teacher, I placed out of first-year comp when I got to college. Here in Fresno we have horrible public schools, and I feel genuinely sorry for many of my students. This helps to keep me going.

Of course I get "WHY ARE YOU MAKING US WRITE, THIS ISN'T AN ENGLISH CLASS." I tell my students that writing is an essential part of science. Many times during the history of science, important results were ignored because the scientists involved did a poor job of writing about the results in ways that other people could understand easily. Much of science is difficult enough to understand, without making it worse with bad writing. You don't need a polished literary style here (I confess I stole this line from The Astrophysical Journal's "Notes for authors"): just make everything you write clear and easy to understand.

Many of my students do get this. It helps to tell them more than once, throughout the semester. It also helps to remind them that what we want shouldn't be just an opinion piece: it should be more like a scientific paper. Go read up on something, and report on what you learned, in a way that someone else could easily follow. It's not that I'm not interested in your opinions: it's that facts are more convincing than opinions, because they tell the story better.

Throughout the semester, I have my students do a series of writing exercises. Most are short. One reason for this is that I get no help with grading this class of often 100+. Another is that I find an exercise often doesn't have to be long to make its point.

One is to predict, by thinking about it first, which of two objects of unequal mass when dropped at the same time will hit the ground first, and then try it and write 1-3 sentences describing their prediction and what they observed when they try it. Done right, both objects should hit the ground at the same time, of course: many students remember this, because it surprises them. (Most predict the more massive object will hit first, just like Aristotle did.)

Another is to explain, in 1-3 sentences that an average 9-year-old could understand, why the sky is blue. Just writing "Rayleigh scattering" won't be marked as correct, since the average 9-year-old will understand that as just two big, funny words: What do the big, funny words mean? The second part of this exercise is to write 1-3 sentences why sunsets are red. Again, just "Mie scattering" won't cut it: spouting big, funny words isn't an explanation.

The next exercise is 1-3 sentences explaining how we know Earth is round. Notice that this isn't why Earth is round: it's how do we know Earth is within 1% of being a sphere. Another is 1-3 sentences explaining how we know Earth moves around the Sun and not the other way around, and 1-3 sentences explaining how we know atoms and molecules exist, and similar question.

I also have them write 200-500 words on the Drake equation and the Fermi paradox.  Next is a paper title and 100-to-250-word summary of what their research paper will be about. Last is a 1200-word research paper, on any topic in contemporary or historical astronomy, space exploration, or related sciences.

Each week, I extensively mark up the papers with corrections. I am not naïve enough to think they read every comment. Still, the copious red ink does help: it shows I'm not kidding.

My Dad taught high-school German and Spanish. One of his favorite things he loved to hate was how much English grammar he had to teach in his German and Spanish courses. Anytime I find myself doing that, I remember this is a general-ed class: it's for general education, for exercising all my students' skills. I cover a fair amount of the philosophy of science, and history as well as mythology. If this is the only college course my students ever really take, then it's up to me to give it to them.

I often do remind my students of my office hours, and the writing center on campus where they can also get help. Some of them do come to office hours: if you want more of your students to come to office hours, remind them again, and again, throughout the semester. Repetition may be tedious, but it is highly effective as an education technique: notice that readers of this blog tend to know what I advocate for stapling to the floor, what to use to do the stapling, and what I enjoy seeing flying around the room when I do.

I always try to be as positive and as encouraging as possible. Having done public shows at a major planetarium for 3 years showed me a good way to present myself: approachable, but not BFFs. Education is serious business, you know.

This is a lot of work for classes of 100+, but my students do improve. Much of the improvement may be that I convey that I'm not kidding, but of course I'm a full professor with tenure, so at least I can.

How much do my students improve? I'd say that of the incoming students, most can't write as well as I could when I was in 9th grade. I do have samples of my own writing in 9th grade, so I do know what that's supposed to look like. At the end of the semester, over 3/4 of them are writing at 9th-grade level, or better. It may not be much, but I think I'm going at full capacity.

I still need to rewrite 80% of my physics grad students' M.S. theses. I'll tell you about it the next time CM needs more original content.