Knowledge Matters by Ruth Wattenberg Sept 2016
“Knowledge Matters” is a Model related to Content/Concept/Knowledge learning that is somewhat different from the other two related models I have/will address: Erickson’s Concept-Based Curriculum (and Instruction), 2014 and Perkins’ Future Wise: Educating Our Children for a Changing World, 2014.
http://knowledgematterscampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Wattenberg.pdf
Inside the Common Core Reading Tests: Why the Best Prep Is a Knowledge-Rich Curriculum By Ruth Wattenberg Short excerpts:
“Who hasn’t experienced something like this? I just received in the mail yet another “explanation” from my health insurance company, which had denied several claims. I called to find out why, since the form in the mail was—to me at least—incomprehensible”…
“There was vocabulary that I didn’t understand, reasoning that made no sense, details I couldn’t absorb, unstated premises I couldn’t intuit. My frustration was total. And I realized:
This is exactly the frustration, the total mental confusion and, ultimately, paralysis and lost motivation that is experienced by students who can “read” but don’t have the content, the knowledge, the background, to make sense of what they’re reading. In general, I can follow logic and grasp details. But I knew too little about health care and insurance rules to make sense of either the written or verbal responses to my inquiries. This is the opposite of the joy of learning, yet it’s what too many students face in school day after day. “….
“Skills-based competencies are those that allow students to master the mechanics of reading. They are highly susceptible to instruction, are learned in the primary grades by the average student, and for the great majority of students are not a lasting source of difficulty…. These skills relate mostly to the “mechanics” of reading—the ability to map the letters onto their respective sounds in combinations, and thus read words”….
“Knowledge-based competencies, by contrast, must be developed over many years and are key sources of lasting individual differences in reading ability…. At a minimum, to make meaning from text, the reader needs relevant background knowledge related to the text’s vocabulary, topic, and structure”…
“Researchers have identified many ways in which background knowledge aids comprehension. Here are four important ones: First, vocabulary tends to grow along with knowledge, but when just 2% of the words in a passage are not known, comprehension begins to drop.4 Second, the ability to process multiple details in a reading passage is severely restricted when readers aren’t familiar with the topic(s) in the passage; cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham says that without adequate background knowledge, “chains of logic more than two or three steps long” can’t be well comprehended.5 Third, when we know a little about a topic (e.g., that Alaska is freezing cold), we use that bit to generate a picture in our mind that helps us make sense of a related passage (e.g. that animals without heavy coats or other means of staying warm will struggle to survive in Alaska). Fourth, when we already know much of what’s in a passage, we don’t have to focus on its basics, and we can think critically: Does this passage make sense? Do I agree with its argument? How do the different items and ideas in this or several passages relate to each other?” ….
“But to understand the reading passage sufficiently to answer the questions, students at every grade need command of substantial subject-matter knowledge. Specifically, to do well on the third-grade items that I reviewed, students need familiarity with a wide range of content, including:…….
