Showing students the forest: Giving students a reason to read their social studies textbook

Research Question. How will explicit modeling of a modified SQ3R strategy, with the aid of a graphic organizer, increase the students' ability to distinguish important facts and find the main idea of a nonfiction Social Studies text? Subquestion. Will this method improve students' comprehension of their Social Studies text, if so, how?;Research Activities. Context. This study was conducted with 21 seventh grade students in an English Language Arts/Social Studies classroom. Methods and Data. This 10 day intervention focused on the explicit modeling of a modified SQ3R strategy that scaffolded students to be able to distinguish important information and identify the main idea in a nonfiction social studies text. In addition, students worked in groups and made flip books to increase student engagement and to aid in differentiation. Data sets include a pre- and post-intervention comprehension assessment, a pre- and post-intervention note taking/main idea assessment on two social studies passages, and a pre- and post-intervention attitude survey. Results. The study showed that students ability to distinguish information and identify the main idea increased by at least 1 rubric score category and their comprehension increased as well, particularly in the area of critical thinking. However, the attitude of students toward Social Studies did not increase.;Grade Level. 7;Data Collections Methods. Discussion Notes, Curriculum assessment, Observation-Field Notes, Observation-Student Engagement, Questionnaires, Student Reflections, Student work, Survey-Attitude, Teacher-Made Assessment;Curriculum Areas. Reading-Reading in the Content Areas, Social Studies;Instructional Approaches. Assessment/Evaluation, Class Discussion, Collaboration/Teaming, Direct Instruction, Graphic Organizer, Note-Taking...