Reading is essential to any classroom. All teachers are reading teachers and each teacher has to help students comprehend his or her textbook’s subject matter. This can be especially difficult for science teachers because the concepts they teach contain a very large and diverse scientific vocabulary. I know when I mention a concept like the Krebs cycle to most people I might as well be speaking Greek. I can’t imagine trying to comprehend the Krebs cycle from a textbook if I struggled with reading. All students should be taught how to read properly and their reading skills should be monitored within each classroom. Reading properly can help a child excel academically and it can also help the child be successful later in life.

I have a very mixed opinion on this subject. I feel that reading is very important, however, I believe that if a student struggles with reading then testing that child through reading is unjust. Like many people who have posted, I believe that you are really only measuring how well the child can read and not how well he or she understands the concepts that were taught to him or her. There are multiple ways to test a child within the science classroom. I think a teacher can have a better idea of what the student has learned if you give them an oral exam or a laboratory practical. If you test a child through reading, such as multiple choice tests, they may just get lucky and pick the right answer and not know the material at all.

If a student has difficulties reading, then assistive technology should be used. There are computer programs to read the test orally for students. Tests’ texts could also be enlarged or the color changed for students who are visually impaired. The student could be asked to give a presentation (such as a power point presentation) rather than being tested through a written exam. Assistive technology should be used on a case by case basis, to fit each individual with a reading disability’s needs.