title: Teaching cause-effect text structure through social studies content to at-risk second graders.
abstract: This study evaluated the effectiveness of a comprehension program integrated with social studies instruction designed for at-risk second graders. The program included instruction in cause-effect text structure, emphasizing clue words, generic questions, graphic organizers, and the close analysis of specially constructed cause-effect target paragraphs. This program was compared (a) to a content-only program that focused only on social studies and did not include text structure instruction and (b) to a no-instruction control. Fifteen classroom teachers, randomly assigned to treatment, provided the instruction. The program improved the comprehension of instructional cause-effect texts, and there were transfer effects on some comprehension measures. The performance of the 2 instructed groups did not differ on any of the content measures, indicating that such integrated instruction can be accomplished without a loss in the amount of content acquired. This study supports our previous findings on the effectiveness of explicit instruction at the primary-grade level.
authors: Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.
authors: Joanna P
authors: JP
authors: Williams
authors: Abigail M
authors: AM
authors: Nubla-Kung
authors: Simonne
authors: S
authors: Pollini
authors: K Brooke
authors: KB
authors: Stafford
authors: Amaya
authors: A
authors: Garcia
authors: Anne E
authors: AE
authors: Snyder
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003479:Curriculum; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D012073:Remedial Teaching; D012942:Social Sciences / Q000193:education*; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*