Professional Development
Reading can either widen access to scientific ideas or quietly signal who belongs and who does not. In KnowAtom classrooms, equity depends on whether reading functions as a tool for sensemaking or a gatekeeper to participation. When text is brought into shared thinking routines rather than treated as an independent task, more students can enter the work with confidence, agency, and curiosity.
This article explores how KnowAtom’s use of thinking routines positions reading and writing as part of investigation rather than as prerequisites, and how that design supports English learners, students with varied literacy experiences, and learners who are still building academic confidence.
Reading should expand access to ideas, not sort students by skill
Equitable reading instruction begins with clarity of purpose. In science, students read to better understand a phenomenon, not to demonstrate reading proficiency.
Across KnowAtom units, reading is anchored in questions students already care about. Students first observe a phenomenon, share what they notice and wonder, and surface disagreement. Only then does text enter as one more source of evidence alongside images, models, and firsthand data.
This sequencing matters. Research on learning and transfer shows that students develop more durable understanding when they encounter ideas first through experience and reasoning, and then use text to refine and extend those ideas, rather than receiving explanations or vocabulary in advance (Schwartz, Bransford, & Sears, 2005).
In kindergarten, students exploring Weather in Our World begin with Picture Thinking, pointing to parts of an image that show sun and shade and sharing what they notice. This mirrors the approach described in How Can I Use Picture Thinking to Create Student Agency? When a short informational text is later introduced, it gives language to patterns students already named through talk and gesture.
In grades 3–5, students investigating Shaping Earth’s Surface use a Notice and Wonder routine with photos of landforms before reading about erosion. Because questions are already in play, the text expands thinking rather than determining who can participate.
When reading is framed as a shared resource for thinking, it invites participation instead of sorting students by perceived ability.
Why traditional “front-loading” can undermine equity and engagement
Well-intended literacy supports can unintentionally shift ownership away from students. Front-loading vocabulary or previewing “key ideas” can communicate that understanding lives in the text rather than in students’ thinking, especially when students are asked to memorize or define words before they have any experience with the ideas those words describe.
This concern is real for teachers. Students do encounter unfamiliar language in science texts, and without support, that language can become a barrier. The issue is not whether students are introduced to vocabulary early in a lesson. In KnowAtom lessons, key terms often appear at the beginning of a reading. The issue is how those words are positioned.
Research from Project Zero and related learning sciences shows that language sticks and transfers more effectively when it is connected to concrete experiences, patterns, or questions students are already working on, rather than introduced as something to learn in advance of meaning (Ritchhart, 2015; Schwartz, Bransford, & Sears, 2005). For English learners in particular, studies show that an early emphasis on defining academic language can reduce participation and risk-taking, while concept-first instruction paired with shared discussion increases both comprehension and confidence (Gibbons, 2015).
An alternative support move is to allow students to encounter unfamiliar words, but to treat those words as placeholders for meaning that will be built together, rather than as prerequisites students must master before reading.
What this looks like in a KnowAtom lesson
In Matter All Around Us (Grade 2), students may see words like elastic or rigid in a short text early in the lesson. Rather than pre-teaching definitions, the teacher supports access by saying something like, “Let’s keep reading and see what the text helps us notice about how the material behaves.”
Students then engage in hands-on investigations where they observe how materials respond to temperature changes. As students describe what they see, the teacher intentionally revisits the words from the text, asking, “Which word might help us explain what happened here?”
In this way, vocabulary is not delayed, but meaning is prioritized. Words become tools to sharpen explanations students are already developing, rather than hurdles they must clear in advance.
This approach preserves dignity. Students are positioned as thinkers who are actively figuring something out, even when the language is new, rather than as readers who must be prepared before they are allowed to engage.
Reading as sensemaking within shared thinking routines
In KnowAtom lessons, reading is never something students are expected to “figure out” on their own. It is always brought into the classroom through shared thinking routines that help students interpret, question, and apply information together.
Thinking routines such as Picture Thinking and Notice and Wonder are grounded in research from Project Zero demonstrating that structured opportunities to observe, interpret, and question allow learners of all backgrounds to engage in complex ideas without requiring immediate mastery of academic language (Ritchhart, Church, & Morrison, 2011).
Picture Thinking and text as parallel evidence
Many units begin with Picture Thinking, where students closely observe an image related to the phenomenon and share interpretations. When text is later introduced, it is treated as another representation to examine, not as the authority.
In Sound Waves (Grade 4), students first explore diagrams and physical models of vibrations. When they read about wave frequency, they return to images and models to ask, “Where do we see this happening?” This reflects the same pattern described in [How Does Picture Thinking Support Sensemaking Across Grade Levels?].
Wows and Wonders guide how students read
Notice and Wonder routines shape how students approach text. Students read with questions in mind, looking for information that helps explain something they are curious or confused about.
In Magnetism and Electricity (Grade 3), students often disagree about why certain materials attract magnets. When a short passage is introduced, students use their wonders to decide what matters, rather than scanning for right answers.
Trade books as shared sensemaking tools in grades K–2
In grades K–2, this shared approach to reading often includes the use of trade books during read-alouds and circle discussions. These texts are not used to teach decoding or to assess comprehension. Instead, they function as another way to introduce a phenomenon, surface student noticing, and invite questions.
When teachers read aloud and pause for discussion, students can engage fully through listening, speaking, pointing, and wondering. Research on early language development and SEL shows that oral, communal sensemaking supports conceptual understanding while building confidence and belonging, particularly for English learners and emerging readers (Hammond, 2015).
Like nonfiction texts later in the lesson, trade books are brought into thinking routines such as Picture Thinking and Wows and Wonders, helping students connect story elements to real-world phenomena they are investigating.
Why KnowAtom uses grade-level nonfiction text
KnowAtom nonfiction texts are written at grade level and Lexile-certified to ensure students encounter the language and ideas appropriate to the discipline at that stage. This is an equity decision.
Research comparing leveled-reader approaches with sustained use of grade-level text shows that students, including struggling readers and English learners, reach grade-level reading proficiency more quickly when they regularly engage with grade-level material supported by discussion and meaning-making rather than simplified texts alone (Shanahan, Fisher, & Frey, 2016; Fisher & Frey, 2021).
Just as important, these texts are not intended for silent close reading, annotation for correctness, or comprehension checks disconnected from investigation. They function as a low-stakes lens on phenomena, evidence, and ideas students are already working to explain through shared thinking routines.
Nonfiction writing as part of making thinking visible
In KnowAtom classrooms, nonfiction writing emerges from the same thinking routines that support reading. Writing is another way students make their thinking visible, revise models, and clarify explanations.
Research on learning and metacognition shows that writing tied directly to models and evidence strengthens understanding because it requires students to organize and refine their thinking, not simply recall information (Ritchhart, 2015).
In Living Things Change (Kindergarten), students label and describe plant models, often revising their words as their observations deepen.
In Changing Seasons (Grade 1), students add and revise captions on diagrams after class discussions, reflecting how their understanding evolves through shared sensemaking routines.
In Water on Earth (Grade 5), students explain patterns they see in data tables, using writing to connect evidence to emerging explanations.
In middle school units such as Biodiversity and Human Genetics, students annotate diagrams and justify model revisions, gradually increasing precision as language becomes necessary for clarity.
Because writing grows directly out of shared experiences and representations, students can participate fully even while still developing fluency.
Equity outcomes when thinking routines anchor reading and writing
When reading and writing are embedded in shared thinking routines, classrooms show clear shifts in engagement and confidence.
Research on student identity and motivation suggests that learners are more willing to persist, revise ideas, and participate publicly when classroom tasks position them as capable sensemakers rather than performers of correctness (Hammond, 2015; Noguera, 2018).
Students who are hesitant to speak can point, draw, annotate, or write first. English learners take greater risks because language is used to refine ideas rather than to prove correctness. Revision feels safe because change is expected.
Socially and emotionally, this matters. Students experience themselves as capable contributors whose ideas grow stronger with evidence and collaboration.
In KnowAtom classrooms, reading and writing support equity not by simplifying science, but by giving every student structured ways to figure out the world together.
References
- Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2021). How to Design Rigorous Literacy Instruction. Corwin.
- Gibbons, P. (2015). Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning. Heinemann.
- Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. Corwin.
- Noguera, P. (2018). The Purpose of Education. Harvard Education Press.
- Ritchhart, R. (2015). Creating Cultures of Thinking. Jossey-Bass.
- Ritchhart, R., Church, M., & Morrison, K. (2011). Making Thinking Visible. Jossey-Bass.
- Schwartz, D. L., Bransford, J. D., & Sears, D. (2005). Efficiency and innovation in transfer. In Transfer of Learning from a Modern Multidisciplinary Perspective.
- Shanahan, T., Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2016). Common Core Literacy. Corwin.