Improving Low-Income Preschoolers’ Word and World Knowledge in Science: The Effects of Content-Rich Instruction

• In Event: Integrating Literacy and Science in the Early Years: The Effects of Content-Rich Instruction

Abstract

It is widely acknowledged that robust vocabulary instruction for preschoolers occurs most effectively in meaningful contexts with many opportunities for active engagement and rich conversations (Beck & McKeown, 2007). For these exchanges to be effectual, however, young children need a threshold level of knowledge about the topic in order to make constructive use of the new vocabulary they are learning (Hirsch, 2003). Consequently, word and world knowledge are reciprocal, mutually reinforcing processes related to gains in conceptual development and comprehension (Neuman, 2011).
Recent studies have therefore investigated more deliberate efforts to integrate literacy skills and science knowledge using multiple genres in shared book-reading programs for preschoolers. However, relatively little is known about the effects of such programs on developing children’s content knowledge, specifically their ability to acquire and understand critical concepts in the target domain. Moreover, because concepts do not exist in isolation, domain-specific vocabulary may be central to the development of semantic knowledge networks, or “big ideas,” comprised of clusters of concepts that are coherent, generative, and supportive of future learning in the domain. Many studies (Elleman, Lindo, Morphy, & Compton, 2009) have shown that vocabulary training may positively impact children’s comprehension; however, little attention has been paid to whether vocabulary training may also enhance their knowledge base. Although we may assume that children may be acquiring these big ideas, to date, there is little evidence to substantiate this claim. Consequently, we addressed the following research questions: What is the effect of a science-focused shared book-reading intervention on children’s word knowledge, conceptual development, and category knowledge? To what extent does the intervention positively affect children’s content knowledge of big ideas in the life sciences?
Method. Seventeen preschool classrooms from a state-sponsored program targeting at-risk children were recruited to participate in the study; 9 classrooms from one site were randomly assigned to treatment; 8 classrooms, to the control condition.
The intervention included four two-week topics from the World of Words (WOW) embedded multimedia curriculum, a supplemental intervention to support vocabulary instruction, conceptual development, and science for low-income pre-K children. In this study, we focused on four topics related to living things (i.e., human body; marine mammals; insects; plants) representing content standards related to the Head Start outcomes framework and Next Generation Science Standards.
Standardized measures of receptive vocabulary and a battery of experimenter-developed measures were used to assess children’s vocabulary, conceptual development, and domain-specific science knowledge of big ideas.
Results of our study indicated significant effects for children’s growth in vocabulary, concepts, and categorical understandings of the properties within them, compared to their counterparts in the business-as-usual classrooms. Furthermore, children in the treatment group were better able to apply their knowledge to an understanding of the big ideas related to the survival and life cycles of organisms. These results contribute to the growing body of evidence suggesting that integrated approaches not only benefit children’s oral language development but also support children’s science learning outcomes.

Authors

• Susan B. Neuman, New York University

• Tanya Kaefer, Lakehead University

• Ashley Pinkham, University of Michigan