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Croner, P. E. (2003). Strategies For Teaching Science Content Reading. The Science Education
Review, 2(4).

Science students need to be aggressive reading their textbooks. They need to be active readers
who build background knowledge before beginning to read, know the purpose for reading, looks
for clues as to what the text will be about, makes predictions and breaks the text into manageable
chunks.

Good readers use comprehension strategies such as forming a mental image, rereading, adjusting
the rate of reading, searching the text to identify unknown words, and predicting meaning that lies
ahead (Collins, 1994).

Word sort

First, students copy vocabulary terms onto note cards, one word per card. (The terms should
include both new and known words.) Then, either individually or in groups, students sort the words
into categories. The sorting may be closed (the teacher provides the categories) or open (students
choose their own categories and identify their own labels for each category). Once sorting has
finished, students should discuss the reasoning behind the choices they made.

This can also be done with SOLO hexagons, and students can explain the relationship between
words or ideas as they explain why they positioned them the way they have, in relation to one
another.

Click or clunk strategy

This is a strategy for students as they read - students ask themselves as they read if sentences “click” for them or if it goes “clunk.” If it clunks, they should ask what they can do to make sense of
it. The purpose of this activity is to have the students slow their impulsivity and take some time to
check for understanding. This is a simple way of getting readers to stop their reading and rethink,
rather than continuing to read without comprehension.