Developing Searching, Skimming, and Scanning Skills within Social Studies

Since Social Studies is usually a class that involves a lot of heavy reading, it is important for students to understand how to actively scan while reading in order to get the important information. This is a skill that needs to be taught by the teacher within the classroom, it is not inherent within children.

The most important aspect is to teach the students what the difference is between skimming and scanning. Skimming is when you read quickly to get the main idea of the text, while scanning is rapidly viewing the text in search of key terms, phrases, and/or information. Students need to know how to learn both of these skills and the proper time to use them.


To lead into the topic, it is important to ask the students a few questions. Some of these questions include: "Why do you think it would be helpful to skim or scan an article, rather than read the entire text?" and "Do you think there are times that you would need to read the entire article instead of simply skimming or scanning it? When?". It is important to ask questions like this in order to activate their prior knowledge and get them to critically think about the skill.

It is also always important to model the skill before sending the students off. Pull up a short article on a topic that was previously covered in the class and demonstrate how to scan and skim. Mention that it is important to read the questions that are being asked first before scanning because you need to know what you are looking for. Differentiate important information from the article from other facts that are just given. Also show how important it is to underline, circle, or highlight information. Students need to understand that scanning or skimming is not about highlighting every word in the article, but knowing what is important and what is not.

After modeling the skills, group students together and have them work together on skimming and scanning different articles about the topic currently being covered. Allow students to discuss with each other so that they can ask each other questions and determine together what information is important and what is not.
A good amount of time needs to be put into this topic so that the students can have a firm grasp on these two skills!