Scientific studies have their place, as far as finding what is measurable is concerned, but there is much in education that is beyond the realm of what is easily measurable. That's when we have to rely on intuition and experience. Don't we all recognize that as adult readers, we can read much more easily when the subjects are familiar to us? Yet how often we ignore this as we teach children.
I agree. Natalie hits that on the head when she quotes Daniel Willingham: "That’s why you need to look at different techniques—logical, experimental, non-experimental.”
Comprehension gains move much more slowly and less discretely than movement in skills areas such as phonics. You can't parse out comprehension components as minutely as you can in phonics instruction so a long-term-gains view makes sense. As a literacy educator, I'm extremely interested in improving the reading picture. I'm just wondering why the discussion about knowledge building is limited to reading. Isn't a major part of our work as teachers to create educated citizens? Knowledge building as a means to creating knowledgeable people would be at the top of my list. Great insights from this piece Natalie!
Interestingly, I have been listening to the recently added episodes of the podcast Sold A Story. They discuss the success of a school in Steubenville Ohio and a reading program called Success For All that they have used for decades. With my limited knowledge of this program it sounds like it uses knowledge building. Do you have any insight into this program?
Scientific studies have their place, as far as finding what is measurable is concerned, but there is much in education that is beyond the realm of what is easily measurable. That's when we have to rely on intuition and experience. Don't we all recognize that as adult readers, we can read much more easily when the subjects are familiar to us? Yet how often we ignore this as we teach children.
I agree. Natalie hits that on the head when she quotes Daniel Willingham: "That’s why you need to look at different techniques—logical, experimental, non-experimental.”
Another great set of articles thanks Natalie.
Comprehension gains move much more slowly and less discretely than movement in skills areas such as phonics. You can't parse out comprehension components as minutely as you can in phonics instruction so a long-term-gains view makes sense. As a literacy educator, I'm extremely interested in improving the reading picture. I'm just wondering why the discussion about knowledge building is limited to reading. Isn't a major part of our work as teachers to create educated citizens? Knowledge building as a means to creating knowledgeable people would be at the top of my list. Great insights from this piece Natalie!
Interestingly, I have been listening to the recently added episodes of the podcast Sold A Story. They discuss the success of a school in Steubenville Ohio and a reading program called Success For All that they have used for decades. With my limited knowledge of this program it sounds like it uses knowledge building. Do you have any insight into this program?