Creating Information-Literate, Critical Readers: Science Texts in Elementary Classrooms

Mariam Jean Dreher
University of Maryland, College Park
Sharon B. Kletzien
West Chester University

To meet current science and literacy standards, children need to be critical readers who are also information literate. There is new urgency in attending to critical reading and information literacy, given that even young readers are inundated with information, much of it misleading or incorrect. This session shows how informational texts afford us the opportunity to help elementary students become information-literate, critical readers who adopt a critical stance toward what they are reading. We focus on science texts as catalysts for discussion and inquiry by illustrating connections among critical reading, information literacy, inquiry, and science; exploring characteristics of books and Internet texts that are useful for science and literacy instruction; and explaining the potential of using science texts as part of inquiry.

presentation documents


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