The value of writing a “how‐to” book to reduce the writing apprehension of secondary preservice science and mathematics

Abstract The promise of writing in science and mathematics instruction will not be realized without teachers who enjoy writing and understand its potential. The purpose of this paper is to describe the effect of a nontraditional writing assignment, a “how‐to” book (which describes a process or how to do something) in a secondary content area literacy course, to decrease the writing apprehension of secondary preservice science and mathematics teachers. The 38 secondary preservice teachers in the study had significantly higher prewriting apprehension scores than their 136 preservice teacher classmates majoring in other subject areas. A MANCOVA analysis revealed that there was a statistically significant decrease in the writing apprehension of preservice mathematics and science teachers after authoring a “how‐to” book. Preservice teachers’ pre and postsurvey comments describe their change in attitude about writing and its value in their future instruction.