We investigated whether three student-centred strategies influenced retention of science vocabulary words among 7th grade students. Two of the strategies (drawing pictures and talking about the definition of the terms) were developed to involve the students in more constructive and interactive exercises when compared to the technique that was in common use (copying definitions from the back of the textbook). Vocabulary from three science units was used in the study and reading level was considered as a potential moderator variable. Results showed some differences among the strategies when retention was measured but, more importantly, the effectiveness of the learning strategies varied with reading level and time of testing.