10 Principles of Teaching Reading Comprehension in Science Lessons

Science teachers face a packed curriculum, and the thought of dedicating teaching time to literacy might seem impossible. However, reading in science is different from reading novels or texts from other subjects and vitally important. It’s not just about decoding words: it’s about equipping students to become scientifically literate citizens.

In their lives beyond the classroom, students will encounter a flood of scientific information: research reports, news articles, health advice, and more. Their ability to critically analyze these texts—to understand complex charts, interpret experimental procedures, and differentiate between evidence-based claims and pseudoscience—is essential.

By embedding targeted reading directly into your science lessons, you may find that you cover the curriculum with more depth and greater breadth in the same time. Reading science allows students to build rich and interconnected schemas, strengthening their understanding of core concepts and facilitating future learning. When students learn to read within the context of science, they develop a deeper, more nuanced grasp of the subject matter. This approach not only prepares them for assessments but also empowers them to become informed, critical thinkers who can navigate the complexities of our scientific world.

Below are 10 principles of teaching reading in science. 

1. Prioritise Knowledge Building: Science lessons should actively build background knowledge before introducing complex texts. Dedicate time to pre-teaching essential concepts and vocabulary.
   • Example: Before reading about photosynthesis, discuss what plants need to live, activating prior knowledge and introducing key vocabulary like ‘sunlight’, ‘water’, and ‘carbon dioxide’.
2. Explicitly teach domain-specific vocabulary and language. Science texts are often dense with technical terms. Direct instruction on the meaning of these words is crucial for understanding.
   
   • Example: When introducing a lesson on states of matter, explicitly teach and define terms like ‘solid’, ‘liquid’, ‘gas’, and ‘molecule’, perhaps using visual aids and real-world examples.Science texts often use precise phrases to describe relationships between variables; for example:
     • The higher the temperature, the quicker the reaction; 
     • When you double the resistance, you halve the current; and
     • The pressure of a gas is directly proportional to its temperature.
3. Teach students how to read different types of science texts. Teach students how to read and interpret different types of scientific texts (e.g.news articles, textbooks, reports, charts and diagrams).
4. Use graphic organisers to support comprehension of science content. Visual tools like concept maps, flowcharts, and Venn diagrams can help students to organise information from science texts, understand relationships between concepts, and summarise key ideas.
   • Example: After reading about the water cycle, guide students in creating a flowchart to illustrate the different stages and the processes involved.
5. Use Read-Alouds Strategically: Use read-alouds to model inference-making and demonstrate how to integrate text with prior knowledge.
   • Example: When reading a text about animal adaptations, verbalize your thought process, saying, “I know that animals struggle to find water in the desert, that cacti contain a lot of water and that cacti’s spines protect them from animals, so I am inferring the the animals eat cacti for water as well as food. 
6. Encourage active engagement with texts through questioning and discussion. Ask questions and discuss the content to help students to clarify their understanding and deepen their comprehension of science concepts.
   • Example: Pause during the reading of a science text and ask open-ended questions like, “What evidence in the text supports this claim?” or “How does this relate to what we learned last week?”. Encourage students to discuss their answers with a partner.
7. Integrate Reading and Hands-On Activities: Connect reading with practical experiments and investigations to reinforce understanding.
   • Example: After reading about the water cycle, conduct an experiment demonstrating evaporation and condensation.
8. Use assessment within the context of purpose: When assessing reading comprehension in science, be sure to assess within the context of the goal of the reading. A general reading comprehension test may not give accurate results within a science context.
   • Example: if the students are reading a science article, assess their comprehension in terms of the science they have learnt in class, rather than generic reading ‘skills’ such as inference.
9. Address Inaccurate Knowledge Directly: Be aware that students may bring misconceptions to the classroom. Actively identify and correct these errors.
   • Example: If a student believes that electricity is used up by a lightbulb, explain the concept of energy transformation and circuits.
10. Promote fluent reading to support comprehension. Fluent reading allows students to focus their cognitive resources on understanding the text rather than decoding individual words. Model fluent reading of science texts and provide opportunities for students to practise reading aloud.
    • Example: Read aloud a section of a science textbook with appropriate pace and expression, demonstrating how a fluent reader would approach the text. Then, have students reread the same section in pairs or small groups.