This study investigated how sixth graders' credibility evaluation self-efficacy was associated with their ability to evaluate the credibility of online texts. Students (N = 265, M[subscript age] = 12.45) worked in a web-based environment, where they read and evaluated two more credible texts and two less credible texts that required confirming and…

A classroom teacher and a university researcher examined what criteria fourth-grade students use to examine text authority and how traditional and new literacy skills may support such evaluation. Results of this case study indicate that students rely heavily on traditional reading skills, including background knowledge and vocabulary skill, to…

This case study applied sociocultural theory to examine the climate change ideas communicated by one group of middle school students (N = 39) in a suburban community on the U.S. East Coast. We investigated the ways in which students' participation in the sociocultural activities of their varied communities appeared to inform their understandings…

In this article, the author describes her use of direct instruction to introduce the skill of determining source reliability in a fifth-grade unit on immigration in American history. She structures instruction to help students establish a thinking-skill strategy that results in not only an understanding of immigration in the late 1800s to early…