Improving Reading Comprehension Skills in High School Biology Curricula

It is widely accepted, that there is an urgent need to reform science education in the United States. For too long, students have generally performed below grade level on standardized tests in science. It is my belief that academic achievement in the sciences is directly related to a student’s ability to read and comprehend grade level informational text. With that in mind, this curriculum unit will examine current literature regarding the state of science literacy at the secondary level along with various pedagogical strategies and resources that can be used in a traditional high school biology classroom. The main goal of this unit is to incorporate a variety of teaching strategies throughout the year that will ultimately improve the reading comprehension skills in various high school biology courses. It is intended to address two distinct groups of students. The first group includes ninth grade students who are taking the School District of Philadelphia’s standardized curriculum for biology. The second group includes those students enrolled in the standard level International Baccalaureate (IB) biology course and who are in the eleventh or twelve grades.