Reading Science Textbooks

Question: How should one read a science textbook?

Answer/Quote: “The procedure for reading a science text is…the same as [scientists] used when they were first learning science: read slowly and more than once with pencil and paper in hand, chewing over each new idea. Ideally a chapter should be read at least three times: before a topic is covered in a class, while it’s being covered, and after it has been covered.” Pp. 331-332.

Comment: Even with the science text, I think students should use the survey/question approach first, before reading everything. The survey is reading the title, sub-titles, the first sentence of each paragraph and the last paragraph, noting charts and graphs, and then raising questions about what needs to be learned from the chapter.

I understand reading the chapter at least two times, before the topic is covered in class and after class, but I have some difficulty understanding how one can read the chapter during the lecture, unless the instructor makes reference to the chapter. And I also agree with reading with pencil and paper in hand. RayS.

Title: “Reading Science.” JV Mallow. Journal of Reading (February 1991), 324-338.