The article describes a four-step procedure for constructing two types of graphic organizers (hierarchical and compare/contrast) to help secondary academically handicapped students gain information from textbooks. Implementation methods include teacher-directed, student-directed with text references, and student-directed with clues. Testing…

Information in these guides was distributed to participants in the Communicating for Agriculture Rural Knowledge Bowl in ten states: Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Georgia, Montana, and Tennessee. The materials are designed for secondary students and deal with rural economic development and the impact of…

In a series of five experiments, novices read a text on computer programming, and engaged in one of the following learning strategies: advance organizer, model elaboration, comparative elaboration, normal reading (control). Results of transfer tests indicated a pattern in which the treatment groups excelled on the ability to put the information…

The use of an advanced organizer (a generalizable, encompassing concept) prior to an individualized instructional sequence in a self-paced, audiotutorial learning format was accompanied by gains in individual unit achievement and in retention by disadvantaged biology students. Although behavioral objectives generally were shown to make no…

High school students with high or average achievement motivation read a passage with a list of learning goals. Two different goal lists were used. The 24 students were also instructed to expect a particular type of test questions. A free-recall test was administered; results are discussed. (GDC)

This study investigated whether stating the instructional objectives at the beginning of instruction would help students structure their own learning. Data came from 24 lessons taught by 13 secondary school teachers to 684 urban and rural adolescent students. Teachers taught different subject lessons in different classes. Students were exposed to…

Presents 26 annotations from the ERIC database on using study guides, advance organizers, and other concept development strategies. Offers journal articles and material appropriate for secondary grades and college students. (SR)

This investigation tested the effects of a reading method on the ability of delinquent students to retain information. The method used involved a consolidation of advance organizers, student-developed pre-reading questions, establishment of purposes for reading, and the questions "who, what, where, when, why, or how." Eighteen subjects…

Pupils studied a short passage in one of four conditions: control, passage with title, passage with headings written as statements, and passage with headings written as questions. Passages with headings were recalled significantly better, both in immediate and delayed conditions. Low ability students profited most from the "question" headings.…

Offers strategies by which teachers can accommodate individual differences in students' reading abilities by modifying students' experiential background, text content and mode of presentation, or assignments at three points in the reading process. (Author/SJL)

Argues that student centered pre-reading activities can convince students they know more than they do about their textbooks. (RB)

This study investigated the effect on learning of the interspersing of questions with sections of written discourse. A 5,200-word passage was divided into seven sections, from each of which several completion questions were derived. A pair of questions was inserted before, after, or both before and after the section. These questions also formed an…

Taking notes on a teacher-prepared listening guide helped high school students improve on their performance on essay tests. (MKM)

Two instructional strategies to help mildly learning handicapped students read and understand textual material are described: (1) previewing (use of introductory paragraphs, including questions, that provide a cognitive framework for approaching a textbook passage); and (2) text summarization by students themselves as a follow-up activity.…

Anticipating the information contained in a text is a skill which needs to be practiced in order to aid the reader's overall understanding, thus allowing the teacher to concentrate on new items of language. The "two-phase speculative" approach assists in teaching and unifying thematic aspects of a reading passage. (Author)