Abstract:

Reading has become increasingly relevant in the teaching of chemistry, particularly in school contexts where students experience persistent difficulties in comprehending disciplinary texts. Research in science education has demonstrated that reading in chemistry is not a peripheral activity but a fundamental process for accessing chemical thinking, interpreting phenomena, and constructing scientific explanations. However, a recent review by Meyer et al. (2022) confirms that this metacognitive and epistemic activity has historically been underestimated in comparison to experimental work, despite the high conceptual and symbolic density of disciplinary texts, which requires specialized comprehension strategies. Moreover, teaching the language of chemistry demands a particular pedagogical approach; in other words, it involves disciplinary literacy that requires specialized instructional actions (Shanahan et al., 2011). This highlights a gap between the declared relevance of reading and its systematic incorporation into teaching practice.

This presentation reports partial results from the FONDECYT research project 11230631, which, among its objectives, examines the frequency and modes through which reading is incorporated into the teaching and learning of chemical solutions among secondary students (aged 14–15). The study included 18 chemistry teachers from publicly subsidized and municipal schools in central and southern Chile who voluntarily participated in this qualitative study (Creswell, 2014) and were selected through typical purposive sampling (Flick, 2014). Eight pedagogical hours were video-recorded and transcribed over the course of one month, totaling 144 hours (8,520 minutes). To analyze teachers’ practices, classroom transcripts were coded using the system proposed by Sánchez et al. (2010), adapted by Rojas et al. (2019) for typical classroom activities (ATAs), understood as “activities that regularly recur within a teaching unit.”

Findings indicate four predominant activities: worksheet completion (19.7%), reading-to-learn tasks (17.8%), disciplinary content explanation (13.7%), and assessment of learning (10.9%). Less frequent activities included experimental work (6.8%), lesson review (5.3%), session recap (0.2%), and exploration of prior knowledge (2.4%). Additionally, 23.2% of class time corresponded to classroom management tasks, such as copying notes. Notably, reading plays a substantial role in students’ learning, consistent with teachers’ initial statements in the study. However, regarding the types of texts used (e.g., research reports, scientific articles, science news), the use of school chemistry textbooks was absent—findings consistent with those reported by Vojíř and Rusek (2021, as cited in Meyer et al., 2022). Another relevant finding concerns how these readings are used: 65% were implemented for knowledge consolidation, typically following a content-explanation activity. These instructional patterns may be influenced by teachers’ beliefs, professional preparation, or teaching conditions (Kelly et al., 2018).

Keywords:

Reading scientific texts, science education, chemistry, teacher practices.