Research Building Blocks: Skim, Scan, Scroll

Children are naturally curious—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. Students practice research skills by skimming and scanning informational text to find main ideas and supporting details.

Weblink address (URL): 
Research Building Blocks: Skim, Scan, Scroll

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: 
Understanding

Helpful Hints

Materials:
internet access

References

Contributors: 
Paula Cox
Originator: 
Ayers Institute for Learning & Innovation