Kindergarten students’ social studies and content literacy learning from interactive read-alouds

Abstract

Research suggests that although many elementary teachers integrate social studies with the language arts, this instruction tends to be poorly designed with little emphasis on social studies learning. This study examined an instructional method rarely used as a form of integration at the primary-grade level—interactive read-alouds of informational text—in order to determine the degree that this intervention might simultaneously build kindergarten students’ knowledge of economic concepts and content literacy in low-SES settings. As evidenced by students’ responses during one-on-one assessments before and following the interactive read-alouds, students made statistically significant learning gains in both social studies and content literacy. Implications of the findings and areas for further research are discussed.