Elementary students’ challenges with informational texts: Reading the words and the world

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to describe ways in which elementary students access information from various components of informational social studies texts in schools. Although the time devoted to elementary social studies has decreased considerably in recent years, a renewed focus on content-area literacy skills, driven by state standard initiatives, presents us with the opportunity to regain lost social studies instructional time by integrating social studies content during literacy instructional time. However, it is not entirely clear what this instructional time should entail. This paper describes how third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade children navigate various aspects of the written and graphical elements of informational social studies reading materials. Results indicate that when students are unable to correctly answer questions about the content of the reading materials, they primarily attempt to do so in one of four ways: (1) responding without the use of a discernable strategy; (2) extracting random information from the passage; (3) relying on prior knowledge; or, (4) extracting information from the correct aspect of text that is not responsive to the question. Based on researcher-developed reading assessments as data sources, we explain the challenges children encounter and make recommendations for elementary social studies instruction.

A lesson in missed opportunities: examining the use of data visualizations in online history lessons

“…To be sure, there is a danger in simply giving students a data visualization and expecting them to be able to read it. Research tells us that although it is often assumed that data visualizations are easy to read, students can face significant challenges when trying to make sense of them (Brugar and Roberts, 2018; Shreiner, 2019). And different types of data visualizations present their own unique challenges.…”

“…Data literacy is not a set of skills students will acquire on their own. Reading data visualizations, whether timelines, maps or graphs, is challenging and requires that students take stock of all the visual elements present in a data display, make connections between visual elements to extract information, and understand the data's referents and context in order to draw conclusions or make inferences (Brugar and Roberts, 2018;Duke et al, 2013;Maltese et al, 2015;Roberts et al, 2013;Shah and Hoeffner, 2002;Shreiner, 2019). Although students can face challenges when trying to read data visualizations, they offer multiple benefits to learning.…”

Interpretations of the 5 th grade (ages 10-11) Turkish students’ historical knowledge based on historical sources

“…Everything is possible." In a study conducted by Brugar and Roberts (2018), it was determined that if students cannot find the correct answer within the text, they tend to write random words from the text, or depend only on their prior knowledge, or to give incorrect answers depending on the source. In this study, it was seen that the 5 th grade students have a similar tendency.…”

Data-literate citizenry: how US state standards address data and data visualizations in social studies

“…This impressive array of data visualizations will no doubt overwhelm the typical student, particularly if they have never developed a foundational knowledge for making sense of simpler forms. A wealth of research (Brugar and Roberts, 2017; Duke et al , 2013; Maltese et al , 2015; Roberts et al , 2013; Schnotz, 2002; Schnotz and Bannert, 2003; Schnotz et al , 2014; Shah and Hoeffner, 2002; Shah et al , 1999) has indicated that data visualizations are challenging to understand and integrate with other information. These challenges will likely increase when there exists such a multitude of forms for readers to unpack.…”