Poster #23 - Effects of Background Knowledge Activation on High School Students' Questions When Reading a Scientific Text

• In Event: 25.087 - MTCC Poster Session Four
  In Poster Session: 25.087-4 - Youth, Power, Reflection, and the Word

Abstract

This paper draws from a formative experiment in which the author collaborated with a high school chemistry teacher to design and test close reading interventions. In one phase of the study, the author and teacher conducted an A/B test of the effects of activating students' background knowledge before reading a scientific text on types of inquiry questions written. Findings suggest that students whose background knowledge was activated before reading wrote more argument-generating questions than those in the alternative condition, who wrote more fact-generating questions. Based on the results of this study, science teachers might problematize Common-Core-era recommendations to eliminate or greatly reduce pre-reading activities, and instead involve students in a rich array of before, during, and after reading activities.

Author

• Amy Koehler Catterson, Alder Graduate School of Education