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. There are several barriers to student comprehension of scientific text, such as text complexity, vocabulary, and difficult reading levels, that cause students to become disengaged when completing science content reading activities. Content area literacy instruction is often missing from middle school science classrooms, exacerbating these effects, especially for struggling readers. When students are disengaged during science content reading activities, they fail to develop science content knowledge. This dissertation study explored whether middle school student engagement in science content reading and science content knowledge can be increased by explicitly teaching reading strategies to support students' comprehension of scientific expository text. Strategy instruction which accompanies the 4E Disciplinary Literacy Framework was used before, during, and after science content reading activities in the seventh grade science classroom. Student engagement in science content reading activities was measured in multiple ways, including student and teacher interviews and surveys asking about students' perception of their own engagement in science content reading. Science content knowledge was measured using classroom assessments. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]