Research supports the finding that middle school students prefer hands-on activities to reading and writing to learn new information. However, disciplinary literacy, the reading and writing in science class, is an integral part of inquiry-based science instruction and a necessary complement to hands-on instruction to build student understanding.…

The ability to comprehend science texts is not only an academic skill but a life skill. Currently, however, the majority of students across grade levels in the United States are reading below grade level "and" have science achievement below grade level. The text structure strategy, a reading comprehension strategy in which students are…

Adolescent readers require a broad range of reading skills to deal with the challenges of reading complex text. Some researchers argue for a discipline-specific focus to address the low reading proficiency rates among secondary students. Disciplinary literacy attends to the different ways disciplines, such as science, generate and communicate…

The purpose of this multiple case study was to understand the beliefs held by content area social studies teachers who teach reading. The rationale for this study is that students in the 21st century must be able to meet the demands of disciplinary literacy to compete in the workforce. The data from the semi-structured interviews and classroom…

This grounded theory study examined the perceived effects of a cohort of seven secondary-level teachers earning a reading endorsement in a single-district sponsored professional development program. The researcher collected data through semi-structured personal interviews with the teachers, their principal, and the director of special services for…

The purposes of this study were to identify the attitudes and beliefs content teachers have concerning teaching reading in the content area to below level readers and to identify specific instructional strategies that are used to teach students who are below grade level the content area material. Twelve participants were selected, using maximum…