Study: Kids Read More When Given A Choice
By John Ostapkovich
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - People do a lot of complaining that children aren't reading enough, but a study by a couple of college professors finds that less is more in terms of "making" them read.
Researchers Jeffrey Wilhelm and Michael Smith say today's kids resist when given books they must read during the school year and then more clunkers over the summer.
In "Reading Unbound", their watch phrase is, kids read what they need and today, certainly, they have ways to figure it out.
"One of the things we can do in giving kids choice," Wilhelm explains, "is then leverage the social power of choice and all the social media things that kids do, in getting them to share what they read and using what they're reading to identify themselves, because then it becomes a social practice of becoming who you want to be."
Wilhelm says fundamentals need to be taught, but then, with many kids, largely get out of the way.