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Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW: PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Literature Review: Prior Knowledge

Justin T. Lemus

National University
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LITERATURE REVIEW: PLANNING FOR INTEGRATED CONTENT

Students will need to be pro2icient in the vocabulary and processes of biological

functions and components of the cell in order to be successful in the unit of study chosen to

teach. This content knowledge will be built upon unit-by-unit using gradual assessment of

vocabulary by means of methods such as choral reading, vocabulary and comprehension

worksheets, and examination. “Extracting meaning from text and constructing a mental

representation that makes sense” is the very de2inition of comprehension given by the U.S

department of Education study by the RAND group as show in (McKenna & Robinson,

2010) and these methods of assessment should help clarify whether or not this

comprehension is taking place from unit to unit making it feasible to proceed to the

selected material. Furthermore, students will have an opportunity to demonstrate

understanding of biological processes and components by making representations by

means of graphic art whether or CPU or hand drawn. When Students have demonstrated

pro2iciency through such stated means and new information is ready to be presented I will

activate their background knowledge from previous units using several techniques

suggested by McKenna and Robinson. The 2irst technique I will use to activate the relevant

schemata necessary to successfully bridge to new information is to “relate abstract ideas to

students everyday lives” (McKenna & Robinson, 2010). This method of introducing new

information by relating to their lives should activate the necessary schemata necessary to

introduce the new information into memory. Afterwards students will be provided with an

opportunity to write about the information in which they have read and have been

presented with as a means of “extending their understanding of what they have

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LITERATURE REVIEW: PLANNING FOR INTEGRATED CONTENT
read” (McKenna & Robinson, 2010). Students will then be 2lexibly grouped into pair share

groups as a 2inal way of processing the new information they have learned. These practices

of bridging information, specifying vocab, and offering practice through writing and pair

share groups to gain comprehension of new information are sound in practice with the

method of speci2ically designed academic Instruction in English or SDAIE and address the

critical features of SDAIE of establishing core content, ensuring comprehensibility, making

connections, and allowing for collaboration. This approach not only ensures sound

educational practices for those pro2icient in English but English Learners alike. All material

and strategies will be modi2ied appropriately to accommodate students with Individual

Education Plans addressing the needs of students with exceptionalities. These

modi2ications can range from text modi2ication to modi2ications in worksheets and

assessments as stipulated by the IEP.

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LITERATURE REVIEW: PLANNING FOR INTEGRATED CONTENT

References

McKenna, M. C., & Robinson, R. D. (2010). Teaching through text: a content literacy

approach to content area reading (2nd ed.). New York: Longman.