Imagine a classroom where students are actively engaged in seeking scientific knowledge from books and computers. Think of a classroom in which students fervently write to create PowerPoint presentations about their scientific topic and then enthusiastically practice their speaking roles to serve as docents in a classroom museum setting. Visualize…

"We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto"--a statement Dorothy made to her dog, Toto, in "The Wizard of Oz"--sums up reasonably well the point the author wants to make in this article. That is, as literacy educators no longer constrained (or protected) by older, more familiar 20th-century print-centric modes of communicating, educators may at times feel…

Introduction: This research sought to investigate how school students build on their existing knowledge of a curriculum topic and transform found information into personal knowledge, and how their knowledge of this topic changes. Method: The qualitative study involved 574 students from Grades 6 to 12 in ten New Jersey schools. The context for data…