Date of Award
4-1-1989
Document Type
Thesis - NSU Access Only
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Center for the Advancement of Education
Keywords
Secondary Education, Reading Comprehension, Critical Thinking, Inferencing, Mapping, Groups, Cooperative Learning, Networking, Fact and Opinion, Drawing Conclusions, Social Studies, Metacognitive Strategies
Abstract
A large number of academic deficiencies among ninth and tenth grade students in a college preparatory school signaled a problem diagnosed as poor reading comprehension in the Social Students content area. The Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test and the Coopersmith Self-esteem Test were administered to ascertain these problems in comprehension and resulting poor performance on tests/quizzes. A teacher authored test readily showed that the problems did exist. Students were taught five metacognitive study skills strategies, grouped in cooperative leaning peer groups, and taught mapping or clustering to aid notetaking and recall. At the conclusion of the implementation period, an improvement of at least 30 percent in 80 percent of the students was seen. Appendices include tests, survey, individual process sheets, grade sheets, letter to parents, students essay’s and charts.