Social studies literacy in primary education

This project seeks to contribute knowledge of how disciplinary literacy practices are shaped and transformed when teachers infuse knowledge about reading, writing and language in the teaching of social studies. Its specific focus is disciplinary literacy practices in middle-school related to geography, history and civics. Involving teachers who implement influential methods for working with subject-specific texts in diverse student groups, the project explores the implementation of different methods and scaffolding strategies. Central questions for the project include:

• What scaffolding strategies and methods for working with disciplinary texts do the teachers employ?
• How do the students respond to these methods and strategies, in terms of engagement with disciplinary content through participation in literacy practices?
• What characterises the texts and other meaning-making resources offered to the students?
• How do the strategies, methods and resources offered in the teaching align with content learning goals?