Chapter 3: Repowering Reading and Writing: Energizing Content Area Curriculum with Online Social Media

The authors of this chapter, siblings who teach at the primary and university levels, repowered their literacy learning strategies at both levels by critically examining focused approaches to problem-based learning instruction (PBL). PBL is an extension of the constructivist approach to learning. Cheaney and Ingebritsen (2005) trace constructivism to the late 1980s, where students constructed learning through their individual interactions with their world. Using PBL has energized the authors’ belief in the value of constructivism to aid their students’ mastery of knowledge. Furthermore, current tools of online social media (OSM) have enhanced the range of individual learning opportunities significantly beyond those available to constructivists in the 1980s. In addition, online social media offer collaborative opportunities that allow teachers to design authentic learning experiences for both college students and young learners. By utilizing online discussion through Skype, the primary classroom teacher and the college professor enhanced both reading and writing instruction in the primary classroom curriculum as the university students tapped the dynamic potential of online social media to interact with primary school children. After discussing their concerns about reading and writing skills, not only on the primary school level but also on the collegiate level, the authors developed practical approaches to foster learning for both primary school children and university students.