Advice for a student who has issues with written communication: The Blank Canvas

A participant in one of my workshops asked me about the AP Physics 1 exam and a possibly dyslexic student - a student who can explain answers to AP-level questions well orally, but whose written communication is suboptimal.  Their handwriting is difficult to read, and occasionally doesn't make sense; when they write  equations they tend to skip a lot of steps and work all over the page, making it difficult to follow the organization of their solution.  What advice do I have?

Great question, one I've encountered a number of times.  Please understand that I am not a trained psychologist or brain expert; I speak merely from considerable experience and observation.

Firstly, know that the AP readers are pretty danged good at interpreting handwriting.  Misspellings and messiness are not insurmountable impediments to communication.  

But nonetheless, strong written communication is non-negotiable - AP Physics is not about getting the right answers, but about explaining and describing the concepts which underlie the natural world.  

I've helped students think of their responses to physics questions less as a sequence of mathematics, less a sequence of words and sentences, but more as a free-form exercise in written communication on a blank canvas of paper.  In fact, I demand that students use unlined paper for their assignments, in order to encourage them not to stay inside the lines, in order to encourage them to use the available space in creative ways.

For example, I'm regularly asking students for annotated calculations - in each step of a calculation or derivation, explain in some words the rationale behind the step.  This isn't done in a rigorous format, but rather with all sorts of circling, arrows drawn to the important variables, reference to diagrams and charts... Some students' work certainly looks more organized than others, of course, but a student with the difficulties you describe can practice using alternate - i.e. graphical or representational - means of communicating their own organizational approach. 

Similarly, when a solution starts with a representation such as a free body diagram or an energy bar chart, words and equations can supplement the concepts explicitly referenced in the diagrams, helping the reader follow the argument that the student is trying to make.  The response to a physics question can become as much like a studio art assignment as a physics problem... written communication matters, written communication is non-negotiable, but "written communication" can take many forms beyond merely words and equations.

I've occasionally encountered a student whose doctor has requested a typed-response accommodation.  I'd strongly recommend AGAINST such an accommodation as exactly the opposite of what will help students in physics.  (So many learning-disabilities accommodations presume a 19th-century style sit-listen-take notes-memorize-recall class, which is 180 degrees from a well-taught physics class.) Rather, I think making the most of the blank canvas of a paper and pencil is exactly how to help this student communicate.  Typing in physics is extraordinarily limiting.  When I write this blog I too-often feel like it takes me ten times as long to communicate a simple idea via keyboard as it does in my class with a whiteboard.

As an example of how I might teach the use of a blank canvas for AP physics problems take a look at this solution from a recent in-class test.    Take a look at how the response is more than merely sentence-sentence-sentence or equation-equation-equation.  This student you describe won't immediately be able to create this same type of response, but (s)he can take a look at the multiple styles in there, and can hopefully expand their vision of the ways in which they can communicate physics in writing.  You can start such a student off with some simple practice: "Okay, for tonight's problem, I want you to draw arrows indicating where the work for each step in your derivation has gone."  "Now tonight, draw those arrows again, but this time write words explaining each step."  "Start tonight's problem with an energy bar chart... then write words showing how you knew to draw each bar representing each form of energy."  

Good luck... I hope this helps.

greg