Theoretical Framework

Learning is the process of acquiring knowledge. Gee (2004) argues that it [“learning to read, or any learning for that matter”] is about learning the right moves in embodied interactions in the real word or virtual worlds, moves that get one recognized as “playing the game” that is, enacting the right sort of identity for a given situation (e.g. science class in middle school)” (p.48-49). In such moments, “when people learn as a cultural process…they learn through action and talk with other” (Gee, 2004, p.39), building pertinent knowledge that is “situated, being in part a product of the activity, context, and culture in which it is developed and used” (Brown, Collins and Dugid, 1989, p.32). However, to be an active participant in learning and building knowledge, the learner must build literacy skills to understand not only the content, but the practices surrounding that knowledge.

Literacy, is traditionally seen as acquiring reading and writing skills with the aim of communicating information. However, literacy can be defined through and by technology and the ways of doing something. According to Coiro, et al. (2008), “literacy is no longer a static construct from the standpoint of its defining technology for the past 500 years; it has now come to mean a rapid and continuous process of change in the ways in which we read, write, view, listen, compose, and communicate information” (p.5). Moreover, new literacies are “multiple, multimodal, and multifaceted” and “are identified with an epochal change in technologies and associated changes in social and cultural ways of doing things, ways of being, ways of viewing the world (worldviews), and so on” (Coiro, et. al, 2008, p.14; 7). In building literacy skills, humans are building the means in which to live, learn, and communicate information in the world around them.

Engagement among peers to contribute, collaborate, and communicate knowledge also relies on the development of critical literacy skills. According to Luke, “the term critical literacy refers to use of the technologies of print and other media of communication to analyze, critique, and transform the norms, rule systems, and practices governing the social fields of everyday life (2004; 2012, p.5). It is through the development and use of critical literacy skills that a learner acquires a critical lens to argue, revise, and contribute both as an active participant and as a producer of knowledge. “Critique enables participants to engage consciously with the ways in which semiotic resources have been harnessed to serve the interests of the producer and how different resources could be harnessed to re-design and re-position the text. It is both backward- and forward-looking.” (Janks, 2012, p.153). As a result, critical literacy lays the foundation for collaboration, revision, and change.

Acquiring critical literacy skills are even more important when a learner is immersed in a discipline of study. “Disciplinary learning is...a form of critical literacy because it builds an understanding of how knowledge is produced in the disciplines, rather than just building knowledge in the disciplines” (Moje, 2008, p.97). In the sciences, one of the most effective methods of learning is through a constructivist approach in which science knowledge is built collaboratively among learners, is revised, argued, and reconstructed. Doing so enables students to make connections within a context, between their acquired skills and science knowledge. Moreover, “learning to argue is seen as a core process in both learning to think and in constructing new understandings” (Kuhn, 1992; Billig, 1996; Osborne, 2010, p.464). As Osborne (2010) describes, arguing consists of critique and rebut, while simultaneously offering a space to share thoughts and negotiate meaning (p.464). It is this negotiation where sense making occurs and knowledge is built.

Lastly, when a learner develops critical literacy skills, he or she, has also builds the foundation to be scientifically literate. This specialized type of literacy is the understanding and implementation of the nature of science, scientific practices, and science content necessary to make informed personal and civic decisions. These scientific practices are reflective of the eight scientific practices captured by the Next Generation Science Standards, but also incorporates the ability to evaluate information with a critical eye in real life contexts and applications. In becoming scientifically literate, one understands the fundamental processes of what it means to do science, and most importantly acquires a critical lens to make decisions as an informed consumer and citizen.

Works Cited

Billig, M., (1996). Arguing and Thinking: A Rhetorical Approach to Social Psychology (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, ed. 2).

Brown, J.S., Collins, A., & Dugid, P. (1989). Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning. Educational Researcher, (Jan-Feb).

Coiro, J., Knobel, M., Lankshear, C., & Leu, D.J. (2008). Central issues in new literacies and new literacies research. In J. Coiro, M. Knobel, C. Lankshear, & D.J. Leu (Eds.) Handbook of research on new literacies (pp. 1-21). New York, NY: Routledge.

Gee, J.P. (2004). Situated Language and Learning: A critique of traditional schooling. New York, NY: Routledge.

Janks, H. (2012). The importance of critical literacy. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 11(1), 150-163.

Lemke, J.L., (2001). Articulating Communities: Sociocultural Perspectives on Science Education. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 38(3).

Moje, E.B. (2008). Foregrounding the disciplines in secondary literacy teaching and learning: A call for change. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52, 96-107.

Osborne, J. (2010). Arguing to Learn in Science: The Role of Collaborative, Critical Discourse. Science, 328 (463).