The effect of a literature-based program integrated into literacy and science instruction with children from diverse backgrounds

THE PURPOSE of the study was to determine the impact of a literature-based program integrated into literacy and science instruction on achievement, use of literature, and attitudes toward the literacy and science program. Six third-grade classes with children from diverse backgrounds (N = 128) were assigned to one control and two experimental groups (literature/science program and literature-only program). Both standardized and informal written and oral tests were used to determine growth in literacy and science. Use of literature was measured by asking children to name book titles they knew and had read both in and out of school. Interviews with teachers and children determined attitudes toward the literature and science programs. Children in the literature/science group scored statistically significantly better on all literacy measures than children in the literature-only group. Children in the literature-only group scored statistically significantly better on all literacy measures, except for the standardized reading test, than children in the control group. There were no differences between the groups on number of science facts used in science stories written. In the test of science facts and vocabulary, the literature/science group scored statistically significantly better than the literature-only group and the control group. Observational data collected during periods of independent reading and writing, when children interacted in social settings, reported the nature of literacy activities that took place.