Integrating composition in math, science and engineering courses

Most mathematics, science and engineering classrooms rarely give students opportunities to write other than traditional note-taking and laboratory report-writing. New ways of writing in these classrooms should be investigated and, if appropriate with learning objectives, implemented. This research focuses specifically on the possibility of integrating writing-to-learn assignments into an undergraduate physics course. 63 undergraduate physics students were involved in this study. 50 males and 13 females participated. There were 2 Asians, 2 African-Americans, 49 Caucasians, 2 Hispanics, 2 Indians, and 6 who did not indicate ethnicity. 13 majors were also represented. The students were given a list of studying techniques and asked to mark which ones they currently used and which ones they do not use but would use if it was proven beneficial. The students were asked to choose among drawing diagrams, reading the text, rewriting concepts in their own words, study groups and working problems. Of the current techniques surveyed, writing was the least used but was the most likely to be used if they were convinced of its benefits.