Assesses prior knowledge and involvement in high school readers whose backgrounds would seem to match the possible interpretations of an ambiguous text. Finds that (1) prior knowledge resulting from actual group membership exerted only a modest effect on interpretation; (2) readers' level of involvement predicted text interpretation reliably; and…

Investigates the effects of case-based instruction, compared to traditional instruction, on students' ability to activate, assemble, and incorporate different knowledge sources in memory. Finds that activating and expanding knowledge through the use of thematically organized and cross-disciplinary self-selected cases facilitated students' ability…

Describes a study of the effect of incongruent prior knowledge on fifth- and sixth-graders' text comprehension, indicating that text structures that explicitly contrasted the reader's misconception with the correct information were more effective than those that simply gave correct information. (HTH)

Investigates whether thematic organizers can facilitate generalizability of ideas from one context to another for low ability readers enrolled in a college developmental studies program. Finds that the thematic strategy facilitated transfer of learning. (RS)

Describes a study of content area textbook use, in which three teachers' explanations of their use of textbooks differed from those derived from observations, and that this ambiguity may serve to confuse students. (HTH)