Many students have difficulty in science because they are passive readers, readers who receive information without understanding. Passive readers begin reading assignments without thinking about the subject. Their counterparts, known as active readers, interact with text to construct meaning. They make predictions, ask questions, generate questions, and vigorously seek answers. For active readers, reading is a means of actively pursuing knowledge. Active readers engage in metacognition, which is an awareness of how they think. Active readers use both pre-reading and during-reading strategies to enhance their comprehension. The following article identifies attributes of passive and active readers, discusses the role of metacognition in reading, and provides pre-reading strategies and during-reading strategies that will help students' transition from passive reading to active reading.