From the results of this preliminary study, we hypothesize that exposure to quality science
experiences provides young students with science content information that can serve as a
springboard into literacy. Instruction in the use of common cognitive processes and strategies
for science, reading, and writing scaffolds students with the means and attitudes to be active
learners, readers, and writers, rather than passive consumers of information and knowledge. We
intend, in future explorations, to more deeply engage a broader range of primary students
(Kindergarten through second grade) in explicit instruction in the transference of inquiry skills to
literacy, in the hopes that this method will contribute to the wider goal of scientific and
fundamental literacy for all.