The inclusion of "purpose questions" before passages in reading comprehension tests is evaluated in light of recent research related to schema theory and adjunct questions. While research supports the use of purpose questions, gaps and weaknesses in the available data exist. Suggestions for further study are provided. (Author/LMO)

Subjects read a text concerning a new computer programing language, with an advance organizer given either before or after reading. On a recall test, there were different patterns of performance. Results suggested that the locus of the effect was at encoding rather than retrieval. (Author/GDC)

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of reader generated questions while studying textbook-type material. One hundred and eight college students were assigned to one of the following treatment conditions: experimenter presented questions before reading, reader generated questions before reading, experimenter presented questions…

The effectiveness of D. Ausubel's Advance Organizer, an introduction presented before the material to be taught, was tested with 96 mildly retarded adolescents. Results of a three-way analysis of variance indicated a facilitative effect under the written presentation, especially for high-level questions and a negative effect under the oral…

In studies on the effect of advance objectives on readers' comprehension of prose, reliable differences were noted in the areas of the passages students focused upon depending on the presence of objectives and the level of learning they required. No differences were observed in reading comprehension. (JD)

Long term studies of advance organizers (AO) were analyzed with Glass's meta-analysis technique. AO's were defined as bridges from reader's previous knowledge to what is to be learned. The results were compared with predictions from Ausubel's model of assimilative learning. The results of the study indicated that advance organizers were associated…

The major purposes of this study were to determine the effect of a specific cognitive organizer, the Structured Overview (SO), on reading comprehension and to assess the effect of accompanying the overview with a set of directions for its use. One hundred twenty-four undergraduate members of a developmental reading course were randomly assigned to…

To test the effects of prequestions and postquestions on word recognition and comprehension, two studies were conducted involving two groups of first through fifth grade students. An informal reading inventory using passages from Harper and Row's "Basic Reading Program" was administered and the results on the lowest instructional and frustrational…

Two groups of undergraduates were forced to process a maplike organizer before or after reading a difficult prose passage concerning the formation of a meander. Subjects with little prior knowledge, provided with the organizer, recalled at a level similar to subjects with a good deal of background knowledge. (Author/CM)

A study was conducted to investigate the compensatory effects of graphic organizers on text organization. Subjects were 114 tenth grade students who read two versions of an expository passage containing identical information but differing in top level structure. The version organized to show opposing views (comparison/contrast) was considered…

This study investigated the effects of graphic advance organizers and schematic cognitive-mapping organizers upon the comprehension of 146 ninth grade students of below-average reading ability. Students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: graphic advance organizer, schematic cognitive-map organizer, and control. A 15-item, informal…

Developing prerequisite learning skills and strategies and providing knowledge necessary to further learning in a particular discipline are the dual roles of a middle-grade content-area teacher. This paper demonstrates how these dual roles can support each other in developing readiness for learning. The importance of readiness for learning is…

The effects of advance organizers in learning unfamiliar material from logical or randomly organized texts was investigated in two experiments. Advance organizers enhanced performance on questions requiring integration of facts from different sections of the text. Results of both studies were interpreted as support for assimilation encoding…

This report documents a series of studies on how undergraduate students learn from and reason with textual information. The studies described were undertaken to produce models that could serve as the basis for designing computer systems capable of structuring and presenting text material in optimal formats. Divided into sections, the report…

This study investigated the effects of training in the use of advance organizers and interspersed questions on the comprehension and attitudes of good, average, and poor eighth-grade readers who were randomly assigned, by intact classroom units, to one of three treatment groups. The first treatment group received eight sessions of training in the…