Research Building Blocks: Skim, Scan, and Scroll

In this lesson, students will learn to read informational text while looking for supporting details. After the skills of skimming and scanning of printed and electronic texts are modeled by the teacher, students practice the skills on their own. Children are naturally curiousu--they want to know "how" and "why." Teaching research skills can help students find answers for themselves. "Skim, Scan, and Scroll," taken from a research skills unit, is a step towards students completing a written research report. Here, students learn to read informational text, looking for supporting details. After the skills of skimming and scanning printed and electronic texts are modeled by the teacher, students practice the skills on their own. This lesson can easily be taught during science or social studies. Additionally, the strategies learned from this lesson are beneficial to preparing students for state achievement tests.

Weblink address (URL):

Standards & Objectives

Learning objectives:

Students will:

use a variety of sources (e.g., media center, classroom resources, available technology) to locate information.
use text aids (e.g., table of contents, glossary, captions, chapter headings, index) to locate information.
use text structure (e.g., sequential order, chronological order, problem/solution) to determine most important information.
apply appropriate reading strategies to fiction and nonfiction texts within and across content areas.
use key words to identify relevant information. Discriminate between relevant and irrelevant information, and make generalizations based on relevant information from expository text.
distinguish between main ideas and supporting details.
organize and synthesize information.

Lesson Variations

Blooms taxonomy level:

Applying

Helpful Hints

Materials needed:

Internet access

References

Contributors:

Jessie Beaumont-Schmid

Originator:

Ayers Institute for Learning & Innovation