Pursuing Scientific Literacy in the Middle Grades Through Collaborative Problem Solving

This article describes an instructional program designed to promote scientific literacy among middle grade students. The instruction focuses on problems that provide a context in which students working in small collaborative groups can bring to bear their knowledge regarding kinetic molecular theory. In keeping with contemporary notions of scientific literacy, engagement in a problem-solving activity is supported through instruction and guidance in the use of scientific explanation and social norms conducive to constructive interaction. After describing several activities used to introduce students to the curriculum, we examine the processes and outcomes of problem solving in the context of planning "dissolving races" (a problem in which students were asked to determine the quickest as well as slowest way in which to dissolve sugar). Differences in the way that this problem was configured over 2 years are traced in terms of the role that explanation played in students' discourse, the interplay of scientific and everyday concepts, and opportunities to experience the activity of science.