The objective of this lesson is for students to explain the basic geographic concepts of "space," "place," and "nature and society" using examples discussed in Alexander Murphy's "Geography: Why It Matters." The lesson is taught over two 50-minute class periods using the jigsaw technique and two strategies…

The discovery of and research into penicillin resistance by Sir Edward Abraham and Sir Ernst Chain can be used to teach the concept of natural selection and also multiple nature of science (NOS) objectives associated with Next Generation Science Standards, such as "scientific knowledge is based on empirical evidence" and "science is…

Discusses how to help children understand the reading process instead of simply recalling information. Presents two instructional strategies which help children learn metacomprehension. (MM)

Identifies simple, well-formed lists as the basic building blocks of most documents. Examines six characteristics of such lists. (RS)

Expands on how a strategic reader uses text structure knowledge as an overarching strategy, a framework within which to incorporate other strategies to gain ideas from text. (MG)

Focuses on a general document navigation strategy called the known/need-to-know strategy. Illustrates the strategy using a variant of this strategy called "locate." (SR)

Argues that educators must address the challenge of helping all students read fluently. Presents strategies to improve student performance in reading speed, accuracy, and the ability to chunk meaning into units or gists. Advises teachers to encourage students to increase reading speed as they encounter an unfamiliar word, use repeated readings,…

Discusses how students become automatic at reading sub-skills, the indicators that can be used to determine whether a student is automatic, and the psychological mechanisms that allow students to perform complex skills automatically. Discusses implications of automaticity research for teaching reading. (RS)

Reviews recent literature on automaticity, defining the criteria that distinguish automatic processing from non-automatic processing, and describing modern theories of the underlying mechanisms. Focuses on evidence from studies of reading and draws implications from theory and data for practical issues in teaching reading. Suggests that…

Discusses ways in which reader response journals can be useful as a teaching method. (SRT)

Describes three dimensions of reading as a social process: (1) all reading events involve a social context, (2) reading is a cultural activity, and (3) reading is a socio-cognitive process. Discusses the implications for classroom reading of these dimensions. (HTH)

Describes the Reader's Workshop and the Focused Study Reading Workshop. Offers them as a way to accommodate the characteristics of individuals, to respect the knowledge of readers who are at earlier stages of reading development, to establish a system which teaches problem solving, and to provide for active child involvement and ownership in the…

Explores whether training in mental imagery can improve text comprehension in good and poor nine-year-old comprehenders. Finds that a three-session program of training in imagery benefited the poor, but not the good, comprehenders. Discusses results in relation to possible causes of children's comprehension difficulties. (MG)

Discusses how seeing relationships between past texts and the current text influences reading comprehension. Shows how teachers can expand the scope of meanings students construct by (1) organizing texts in ways that promote relationships such as complementary texts, conflicting texts, controlling texts, synoptic texts, and dialogic texts; and (2)…

Outlines seven basic concepts regarding teachers' understanding of the comprehension process and proposes several instructional strategies based on the concepts, each of which actively involves children in reading. (FL)