The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of text genre on student learning from science text, using science-related traditional informational and poetic informational texts, with fifth-graders. Four texts were used: a traditional informational text about caves, a poetic informational text about caves, a traditional informational text…

This teacher research studied second graders' small-group, peer-led discussions about three genres of literature--realistic fiction, biography picture books, and science information books--across one school year (during three units in the fall, winter, and spring). It set out to explore how this peer talk, in general, mediated children's responses…