Why Sociocultural Context Matters in the Science of Reading and the Reading of Science: Revisiting the Science Discovery Narrative

Abstract

Our purpose in this study was to more deeply understand the ways in which text‐based, sociohistorically situated narratives can be optimally used for promoting reading comprehension. In particular, we sought to understand the experiences and perspectives of young readers from diverse backgrounds (N = 24) as they engaged with science discovery narratives (i.e., stories by or about scientists engaged in the process of discovery), which have been shown to have advantages over traditional expository texts (i.e., those that present information without attending to the discovery process) in fostering comprehension of targeted conceptual information. Interviews were conducted and analyzed using a sociocognitive framework that positioned participants as reviewers of text quality. Findings suggest that the personal and sociohistorical elements of science discovery narratives were effective in engaging readers’ interest and helped highlight the culturally situated nature of knowledge and the nature and processes of scientific inquiry. We conclude by arguing that in the development and instructional use of texts, educators would do well to consider the ways in which foregrounding sociohistorical considerations can foster engagement and, hence, greater comprehension in readers from diverse backgrounds.

Raising Critical Readers in the 21st Century: A Case of Assessing Fourth-Grade Reading Abilities and Practices

“…Further, our development of this progression of texts followed an iterative effort of (a) conducting think-aloud sessions with young children from our aforementioned six-member panel of young students and (b) debriefing and revising drafted texts according to multiple dimensions of textual complexity as well as sociocultural relevance (Arya & Maul, 2021;Arya et al, 2020b). As suggested earlier, words and concepts included in each leveled text of the CRA aligned with readability and coherence information that allowed for comparisons with STAR test scores (see Online Appendix 1).…”

“…Our work was grounded in theories that reflect a socioculturally situated nature of literacy (Gee, 2018;Street, 2014) and the importance of open-ended, qualitative approaches that elicit interactional engagement from young developing readers who should be encouraged and supported to use all cultural and linguistic resources that they bring to the classroom space (Arya & Maul, 2021;Rojas-Drummond, 2019). Acknowledging ongoing tensions related to what counts as key theoretical and empirical underpinnings within the area of reading studies, our study was built on previous work guided by sociocognitive scholarship that highlights the importance of (a) sociohistorical contextual matters that relate to conceptual assertions featured in texts and (b) the active involvement of participating students that are representative of the target population (Arya & Maul, 2021). Such active involvement aligns with research on social-emotional learning and the importance of incorporating students' interests and experiential knowledge in academic contexts (e.g., Fettig et al, 2018).…”

“…Yet reading assessments in the U.S. designed to gauge one's readiness in reading continue to reflect an antiquated goal of digging out main ideas for making sense of print-dominant texts (Arya et al, 2020a) and a decontextualized, monologic definition of literacy (e.g., Gee, 2018). Such assessments are used by the majority of U.S. schools to demonstrate evidence of student progress in English-dominant literacy abilities regardless of potential issues in applying the results to a culturally and linguistically diverse student population (Abedi et al, 2011; Bailey et al, 2007). With these realities in mind, we sought to develop a reading assessment that aligned with the agreed-upon obligations to our long-standing, 20-year partnership with Ocean Elementary (pseudonym) located on the central coast of California.…”

Using an ocean culture course to improve students’ marine life concepts and learning interest

“…Students may have a strong attitude due to a particular individual interest in a topic (Blankenburg et al, 2016). However, before individual interest is formed, the short-term situational interest of students can be stimulated through the environment, text stimulation, group work, and problem-solving (Hidi & Renninger, 2006;Huang, 2013;Soemer & Schiefele, 2019); Activity 2: Reading is to use stories to help children develop relevant skills and concepts, to ask them about inquiry questions, and to stimulate them to inquire for the answers (Arya & Maul, 2021;Deshmukh et al, 2019;Liston & Hennessy, 2018). Reading science picture books can help students learn speci c vocabulary and improve their scienti c understanding (Authors, 2020;Matuk et al, 2021;Patrick et al, 2013;van den Heuvel-Panhuizen et al, 2016); Activity 3: Inquiry means that students understand scienti c concepts through activities such as observation, questioning, experimentation, collection, analyses and interpretation, and prediction (Cervetti et al, 2006).…”

“…Reading science picture books can help students learn speci c vocabulary and improve their scienti c understanding (Authors, 2020;Matuk et al, 2021;Patrick et al, 2013;van den Heuvel-Panhuizen et al, 2016); Activity 3: Inquiry means that students understand scienti c concepts through activities such as observation, questioning, experimentation, collection, analyses and interpretation, and prediction (Cervetti et al, 2006). Inquiry can also increase students' interest in learning and help them understand critical concepts in science (Arya & Maul, 2021;Blankenburg et al, 2016;Chou et al, 2022;Deng et al, 2020;Memiş & Akkaş, 2020;Patrick et al, 2013); Activity 4: Presentation refers to applying language and writing to the presentation of the learning results, helping students to discuss during the process (Liston & Hennessy, 2018;Patrick et al, 2013). Authors (2020) used the TRIP model for marine education to teach second graders.…”