Using Hyperlinked Scaffolding to Support Student Work

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Although many social studies education experts recommend the use of resource documents as part of history education, many social studies teachers are reluctant to utilize historical resources. One reason is the belief that students, especially those with poor reading skills, will have difficulty reading and understanding the resources. When teachers do not regularly include the use of resource documents in their history classes, students are unable to develop first-hand knowledge of the past and instructional methods such as inquiry become difficult to successfully implement. This study examines the ways students with various reading skill levels utilize historical resource documents that contained embedded hyperlinks to provide several types of scaffolding. Students read three resource documents that included hyperlinked scaffolding. Many of the findings suggest that students utilize these texts in ways that are similar to the ways they utilize print text. The data suggests that the use of the hyperlinked scaffolding was successful and assisted the students in utilizing the documents as part of a problem-based inquiry lesson.