Curricular Materials for Young People Who Struggle with Learning to Read: The Case of Roadrunner Reader Inquiry Kits

In this chapter, we review research on children’s motivation to read and its relations to children’s reading comprehension. Researchers have provided evidence that motivation is strongly associated with reading outcomes such as comprehension and their ability to use effective reading strategies. As such, the consideration of motivation with students who struggle with learning to read becomes particularly important. In this chapter, we will discuss an instructional approach focused on inquiry to address the needs of those children. Dubbed “inquiry kits,” these curricular materials provide teachers instructional spaces to engage students. Informed by self-determination theory, the kits were developed to meet the students’ basic needs related to autonomy, competence, and relatedness. We begin the chapter by explaining the theories that support our work; we describe the process we used in the development of the kits. This development process involved the consideration of an instructional model that was oriented around a “big idea” (topic) connected to a message of social justice. We conclude the chapter with examples of the ways in which these kits have been used to support the instruction of students who struggle with learning to read.