Writing Activities

Today in Science class for the 7th grade, we completed a writing activity.  The students could choose between two topics.  The first topic was to write a report about a scientific discovery that changed the world and the second topic was to write a report on the life story of a scientist.  The students were allowed to use their books but many seemed to have writing anxiety.  Many studetns could not get started and said they had writers block so to speak.  In the end I think they all did fairly well but they are not used to getting a writing assignment in science!