This video focuses on how interactive read-alouds, a common practice in elementary schools, can be geared toward supporting scientific sense-making. See how students are invited to reason about specific pieces of content and ask questions of informational texts.
Inviting students to interact with and thoughtfully question or critique information in texts can help them see themselves as active participants in scientific sense-making, rather than gatherers of known facts.
Consider additional ways to integrate science and literacy in the early grades: Wright, T. S., & Gotwals, A. W. (2023). Supporting integrated instruction in science and literacy in K-2 classrooms. In S. Q. Cabell, S. B. Neuman, & N. P. Terry (Eds.), Handbook on the science of early literacy (pp. 162-174). Guilford Publications.
How science investigations can expand beyond standard classroom activities
Tips for co-creating “gotta have” checklists with students
Several examples of sixth-grade students interacting with each other’s reasoning as they work to make sense of how sound travels.
This site is primarily funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through Award #1907471 and #1315995