This systematic literature review examined the research on prior knowledge and its activation to ascertain how these terms are defined, what specific techniques have been empirically investigated, and the conditions under which prior knowledge activation facilitated students' comprehension. Fifty-four articles met the inclusion criteria and…

Reading academic hypertext documents in college brings a new level of complexity that changes the definition of college reading and literacy. Knowing how to read these unpredictable, nonlinear texts requires familiarity and practice. The author describes the nature and usefulness of hypertext, reviews the challenges of reading hypertext, and…

Presents a teaching strategy which uses points of reference (or basic underlying concepts) to help students understand definitions, descriptions, and comparisons/contrasts, and models its use. Notes that understanding the importance of points of reference is one of the first steps in the technique called "knowledge modeling." (SR)