Building Content Knowledge Research Articles

Feasibility of the Knowledge, Language, and Inquiry (K.L.I.) intervention for multilingual English learners

This study evaluated the feasibility of the Knowledge, Language, and Inquiry (K.L.I.) intervention, designed to support Grades 3–5 multilingual students classified as English learners (ML-ELs) in building content knowledge, language skills, and reading comprehension through inquiry-based small-group instruction. Feasibility was examined across five dimensions—acceptability, practicality, integration, implementation fidelity, and effectiveness—using teacher interviews, ratings, lesson observations, and student and teacher learning outcome assessments. Findings suggest that the intervention was generally well-received by teachers, with structured lesson plans and resources facilitating implementation. Teachers demonstrated increased knowledge in reading instruction and the intervention following professional development, and students showed gains in vocabulary, text structure awareness, and topic-specific knowledge. However, time constraints during standardized testing periods limited consistent implementation. These findings inform the refinement of the K.L.I. intervention for broader application, emphasizing the need to address contextual challenges and conduct future evaluations to support its larger-scale implementation and improve ML-ELs’ literacy outcomes.

Examining English learning students’ experiences related to home language use in a Physical Science and Language Development classroom

Research suggests that by allowing English Learner (EL) students to use their home languages in science class, they can better express their thinking and build content knowledge through underlying crosslinguistic awareness between languages. However, EL students’ educational backgrounds and home languages are incredibly varied. In this case study, we employ grounded theory to explore students' perceptions of their experiences in the context of a Physical Science and Language Development class [10]. We use a phenomenological approach to describe how the students experience their home language within this model of a science and language development class. Observation data, online video assignments, and small group, semi-structured interviews were used to find themes related to experiences of using home language in science class. The findings indicate varied student perspectives on the use of their home languages in science class. Some students preferred to use class time to practice using English, while others found value in using their home languages to help better understand science concepts. Student ideologies regarding English-only or multilingual practices for EL students varied. The findings also indicated that providing an opportunity for EL students to use their home languages in an asynchronous online communication platform outside of class was an effective strategy to allow time for students to practice English during science class, yet provide an opportunity to translate between home languages and English.

Guided Drawing with Preschool Dual Language Learners in Head Start: Building Science Vocabulary and Content Knowledge

Drawing offers a way for young children to demonstrate what they understand about the world. This study reports on the findings from an eight-week intervention program called guided drawing designed to build vocabulary and content knowledge for dual language learners in Head Start settings. Four researcher-designed assessment measures were used to assess thirteen preschoolers’ vocabulary and concept knowledge at the receptive, expressive, and definitional levels in a pre/post-intervention design. Analysis of researcher-designed measures reveals positive changes in all vocabulary and concept knowledge areas targeted by the intervention. Thematic analysis of researcher–child interactions and drawing products indicates the guided drawing intervention provided opportunities and context for every participating child to explore new content and concepts related to science learning; reveal what they know; grow knowledge and vocabulary; reveal misunderstandings; and overhear and adopt new language.

Analysis of the Need for Development of Virtual Reality-Based Learning Media to Build Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) Competencies for Prospective Physics Teachers

Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) is a conceptual framework used to describe the knowledge needed by a teacher to integrate technology into the learning process. In the context of developing Virtual Reality (VR) based learning media, physics education students as prospective teachers need to have a strong understanding of how VR technology can be used as a medium for teaching specific topics (TK), how to actively involve students in the VR environment ( PK), and a deep understanding of the lesson topics taught (CK). This research aims to produce Virtual Reality-Based Learning Media to build the TPACK competency of Physics Teacher Candidates that is feasible, practical, and effective. The development research method used is EDR (Educational Design Research) with the following stages: analysis and exploration; design and construction; and evaluation and reflection. Based on the questionnaire given to students, interviews conducted with lecturers, and literature review studies that have been carried out, it was concluded that it is necessary to develop Virtual Reality-based Learning Media Development to Build the Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) Competencies of Prospective Physics Teachers.

An interdisciplinary study of racial violence through place in grades 3–12

PurposeThis article outlines theoretical and pedagogical approaches to investigating racial violence with learners in grades 3–12 and K-12 teacher candidates. Throughout, the authors use the 1898 Wilmington Race Massacre as a central example of racial violence. Using a blended framework of Muhammad’s historically responsive literacy, King’s Black historical consciousness and place-based learning, the authors describe two different inquiries that build content knowledge around the Wilmington Race Massacre and context knowledge around place as it relates to Black agency, resistance and perseverance.Design/methodology/approachThe first inquiry, aimed at 3–12 learners, explores the Black historical consciousness themes of Black agency and resistance. It uses the inquiry design model (IDM) template but expands the template to include a historically responsive literacy lens. The second inquiry describes how to incorporate historical sites into the study of racial violence. This inquiry explains how local cemeteries can be used as interdisciplinary classrooms and also artifacts.FindingsThroughout, the authors also reflect on how this work has changed and improved over time as well as thoughts moving forward with examining the 1898 Wilmington Race Massacre through an interdisciplinary lens.Originality/valueThis article is the first to explore the 1898 Massacre in Wilmington, North Carolina from an interdisciplinary practice and cross-grades lens. It offers multiple step by step approaches for classroom teachers and teacher educators to enact interdisciplinary work with both 1898 and other acts of racial violence in their own places and across the United States.

Does Cultivating Content Knowledge during Literacy Instruction Support Vocabulary and Comprehension in the Elementary School Years? A Systematic Review

This systematic review examined whether building content knowledge in science and/or social studies topics during English Language Arts (ELA) instruction enhances vocabulary and comprehension. It also described how ELA instruction has been leveraged to build content knowledge in the elementary years. A systematic search of the extant literature identified eight (quasi)experimental studies. Five of the eight studies met standards of research quality for validating causal inferences. The results of the meta-analysis of the five studies showed that supporting content knowledge in ELA strengthened vocabulary related to content being taught (effect size g = .29). The average effect size for comprehension was positive and significant when standardized comprehension measures and researcher-developed comprehension measures were considered together (g = .24). In addition, we found common and different patterns of content-rich ELA instruction regarding the use of texts, reading, writing, discussion, and/or hands-on activities.

Using linguistic-informed analysis to assess model texts for EFL reading and writing

English as Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks contain texts with topics integrated from content areas, such as science. In Thai basic education, learning in content areas is typically done in Thai. Therefore, EFL reading texts provide learners with primary exposure to building content knowledge in English. This raises an issue about how the language of these EFL texts is organised, and if they can help the learners’ transition to university where they are required to read content area texts in English. The paper provides an in-depth demonstration of how linguistic analysis can inform the choice of model texts for teaching EFL reading. It deploys a qualitative linguistic analysis method drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics. The data are the scientific descriptive report texts in EFL textbooks used in a Southern Thailand secondary school. They are compiled in a small corpus, and one text is selected purposively to demonstrate how linguistic analysis can be used to assess the text. The text is analysed using a ‘top-down’ approach, from genre stratum down to the lexicogrammar, with the purpose of examining the text’s ideational, interpersonal, and textual resources to build up scientific knowledge. The findings show that the text does not conform to scientific descriptive reports’ discursive and linguistic features due to its extra stages, incomplete scientific taxonomies, relatively low technicality, low social distance and authority, and incoherent thematic flow. Hence, the quality of the text as a model becomes problematic. Learners learning from these teaching materials may experience challenges when they read authentic science texts at the university level. The paper offers a viable alternative methodological resource for educators to use a systematic, critical and linguistically-grounded evaluation in EFL reading classes.

Preparing Preservice Teachers by Building Content and Pedagogical Knowledge of Integrating Technologies

After the declaration of Covid-19 outbreak in March 2020, the system of education changed from traditional field experiences to virtual environment of online learning. As per the need of time, this paper discusses the methods of online learning that learners and educators use to keep up with the flow of education. With the complete incorporation of technology in the educating system, the challenges and training support provided to preservice and in-service teachers is the vital essence to deliver beneficial impacts. However, delivering education with proper expertise in specialized software such as Google Classrooms, Zoom, TV school, online portals, Microsoft teams, and different social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, also requires learning materials to excel in terms of quality and accessibility. Hence, preservice teachers are being assisted by online forums, webinars, courses, and even degree programs to learn and develop their careers in a virtual context to prepare for their futures. Current research was conducted with over forty preservice teacher respondents which was consistent with a previous study of over one hundred pre service teacher participants. This article aims to highlight the current pandemic scenario and its impacts on the educational sector in the preservice teacher education programs and to discuss methods and measures currently in use to promote the technological way of learning and how the trainers are affected by it.

The usefulness of LabXChange virtual lab and PhyPhox real lab on pendulum student practicum during pandemic

Virtual Laboratory (virtual lab) is a series of virtual experiment laboratories that have been designed and programmed to be used by students for practicum, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. The virtual lab is helpful for student to build content knowledge which usually they do in real practicum activities. The virtual lab is arranged systematically. Therefore, the result should be close to the real value. Here we report our study on pendulum whether the virtual lab experiment yield the same result as the real laboratory (real lab). We compare both results of experimental data using data analytics and also graphic analytics. The results from the study, shows that there is no significant difference between virtual lab and real lab. Thus, the virtual laboratory is a comparable pendulum experimental result for students doing a remote practicum in physics.

Supporting Self-Directed Learning: Development of a Faculty Evaluation Scale

Construct: We sought to assess medical education faculty members’ ability to support students in the development of self-regulated learning skills. Background: It is broadly agreed that medical students should become self-directed lifelong learners to succeed as physicians. To that end, many instruments have been developed that measure student attributes of self-directed learning (SDL). By contrast, no such analogous valid instrument is available to assess faculty familiarity in pedagogical strategies to promote SDL among students. Approach: An item bank with 45 items was created and its content-related validity evaluated by a panel of twenty experts. The items were selected and validated in the framework of Item Response Theory (IRT). The unidimensionality of all items within four constructs was assessed by using modified parallel analysis and 2 parameter IRT model calibration. The final version of the Recognition of Learning-Oriented Teaching Strategies (RoLOTS) instrument was validated by using the IRT marginal reliability as well as 2PL model calibrations. Different Item Functioning (DIF) in student-educators and gender was examined. Findings: The final version of RoLOTS included 20 items, with five in each of four subdomains: building content knowledge; the emotional and motivational aspects of learning; leveraging the social nature of the learning process; and metacognitive processes that promote student regulation of the learning process. Construct validity and reliability of each of the four domains were well supported by the results. Significant DIF was not detected in student-educator and gender. Conclusions: The RoLOTS successfully evaluated whether a faculty member is familiar with pedagogical tools to promote medical students’ self-directed learning, which can be used as a first step in needs-based professional development. Further research is needed to provide more validity and reliability evidence among groups with diverse SDL experience.

Reflective journaling in mathematics: Insights into the development of future teachers

Given their responsibilities and influence on future students, preservice mathematics teachers’ preparation is critically important. This research's purpose was to explore reflective journaling for preservice teachers in advanced undergraduate mathematics courses. To accomplish this purpose, 39 preservice teachers enrolled in upper-level undergraduate mathematics courses shared evidence from their semester-long learning journals including self-perceptions as learners and future professionals. Student journals were analyzed using qualitative thematic methods; themes included perseverance through challenge, self-awareness of learning behaviors, building content knowledge, and future teaching connections. Participants perceived themselves as mathematics learners experiencing challenges and successes and as future educators building skills and preparing for the workplace. Findings reveal journaling's particular usefulness for building the mathematical habits of mind and professional mentality of preservice teachers, helping them to begin the transition of their viewpoints from student to teacher. This study has implications for preparing future teachers and designing corresponding undergraduate mathematics courses.

Teachers’ Attempts to Respond to Students’ Lived Experiences

ABSTRACT How science teachers attend to key features of teaching scientific phenomena and the overlap with students’ lives is the focus of this study. Our conceptual framework is informed by work on resource pedagogies, which examines how teachers build on students’ language and stories of their lived experiences as a meaningful way to build content knowledge in a discipline. We examined 38 secondary science teachers’ instruction, then purposefully selected 3 teachers who rated highest in being responsive to students’ lived experiences in classroom discussions for an in-depth analysis. We observed 1 unit of instruction in each teacher’s classroom and conducted interviews to examine teachers’ pedagogical reasoning with students’ resources. The findings suggest responsive practices teachers used to draw on students’ lived experiences when planning and enacting phenomena-based instruction.

Building Content Knowledge to Boost Comprehension in the Primary Grades

ABSTRACTWell‐established theoretical models and a body of empirical research elucidate the critical role of content knowledge in comprehending texts. However, the potential of supporting knowledge in service of enhancing linguistic and reading comprehension has been a relatively neglected topic in the science of reading. The authors explicate why knowledge building in English language arts instruction (i.e., content‐rich instruction) can support language and content knowledge, leading to better linguistic and reading comprehension, based on theoretical arguments and empirical studies. In particular, the authors review the evidence on this claim, paying special attention to experimental trials conducted in K–2 settings. The authors also share preliminary findings from a novel intervention study testing one instantiation of a widely used content‐rich English language arts curriculum. Whereas this growing literature base demonstrates evidence of promise, further rigorous trials are needed to examine the efficacy of this integrative approach to teaching reading for understanding.

Positioning participation in the NGSS era: What counts as success?

AbstractThe Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) strives to shift science learning from the teacher as a single cognitive agent, to a classroom community in which participants are working together in directing the classroom's communal knowledge to figure out questions about how phenomena occur, and building, testing, and refining their ideas to address those questions. To achieve this type of classroom environment, teachers should attend to students' knowledge and ideas and pay attention to how students are located within teacher‐led interactions, such as being positioned as active discussants or designated listeners. In this study, we explore if and how this is occurring in the NGSS era. We used a naturalistic inquiry to explore how an experienced first‐grade teacher used a new NGSS‐aligned unit that called for students to use the science and engineering practices (SEP) to build content knowledge. We used a macro‐analytic lens to answer the research question “how are class discussions shaped to address the SEP”? We used a micro‐analytic lens to answer the research question “how are students positioned during these science discussions in this classroom?” Evidence suggests that the teachers' whole class discussions incorporated and involved the SEP which were specified in the unit lessons for content learning. However, on a micro‐analytic level, we found that few students were positioned as active discussants. The teacher heavily relied on those students who could provide succinct and clearly relevant answers while positioning the remainder of the students as silent spectators. Implications from this research suggest that not only new NGSS curriculum materials need to focus on what students should know and do but they also need to address heuristics for teachers that show them how to position all of their students as active doers of science so all students have opportunities to build deeper, core science knowledge.

Professional development for online faculty: instructors’ perspectives on cultivating technical, pedagogical and content knowledge in a distance program

In this qualitative case study, the researcher draws on interviews with 13 faculty in an online doctoral program to find out how professional development offerings strengthened distance instructors’ technical, pedagogical and content knowledge. Findings suggest that guided practice sessions in the virtual classroom strengthened newer faculty members’ technical knowledge. Biweekly meetings turned into a community of practice where newer and more experienced faculty could build content knowledge. Faculty in the distance program desired more professional development in the area of online pedagogy.

Developing Content Knowledge in Struggling Readers: Differential Effects of Strategy Instruction for Younger and Older Elementary Students

This study compared the effects of 2 strategy-based comprehension treatments intended to promote vocabulary and content knowledge for elementary students at risk for developing reading difficulties (N = 105) with a traditional content approach. The study examined the effectiveness of strategy versus nonstrategy instruction on reading comprehension, vocabulary, and knowledge acquisition. In addition, the study considered the trade-offs between using a program focused on building vocabulary and a program focused on building content knowledge through strategy-based dialogue. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses revealed that the vocabulary strategy instruction produced higher vocabulary acquisition than the other conditions for younger students. However, traditional content instruction was more effective for older students. The findings suggest that practitioners should focus heavily on vocabulary when using expository texts with young children. Based on our results, we suggest blending the best of content and strategy instruction to optimize comprehension instruction in the classroom.

Facilitating real-time observation of, and peer discussion and feedback about, practice in writing classrooms

This study investigates conditions designed to optimize learning where professionals utilize the expertise and support of one another. It describes a research–practice collaboration to enhance teacher knowledge and practice through peer observation of, and feedback about, classroom practice in writing. A collaboratively designed observation guide, containing key elements of effective practice in teaching writing, helped focus classroom observations and discussions. The feedback-after-observation discussions, aimed at improving practice, were facilitated through employing principles to help ensure the conversation maximized learning. All teachers at a school (11 pairs) engaged in seven rounds of observation and feedback over one year. Several data sources tracked progress and outcomes including observation ratings and notes; post-feedback discussion questionnaires; and written responses during professional learning meetings. Data show that most feedback discussion contained specific change or enhancement messages and, over time, the degree of specificity increased. There was evidence for the utilization of feedback in the form of changed practice. Perceived usefulness of feedback varied. The process of observing and engaging peers in dialogic feedback was challenging. Teacher responses confirmed the need to build content knowledge about writing and writing pedagogy, together with skills to engage in professional learning conversations to promote and support changed practice.

Professionalizing the first steps of the teaching journey

Educators Rising, which is part of the PDK International Family of Associations, developed a set of seven standards to define what high school students exploring teaching need to know and be able to do to take their first steps on the path to accomplished teaching. The standards represent a new, shared vision from the field; the teaching profession is mapping the front end of a coherent continuum from the initial exploratory phase to entry into the profession to becoming an accomplished practitioner. The seven standards are Standard I: Understanding the Profession; Standard II: Learning About Students; Standard III: Building Content Knowledge; Standard IV: Engaging in Responsive Planning; Standard V: Implementing Instruction; Standard VI: Using Assessment and Data; and Standard VII: Engaging in Reflective Practice.

Embedding Literacy Strategies in Social Studies for Eighth-Grade Students

This study evaluated the effects of literacy strategies on academic achievement, motivation, and engagement of eighth-grade social studies students. Incorporating literacy strategies included teaching students to construct meaning, think critically, and build content knowledge, while stimulating their interests, using multiple texts and technology, and providing collaborative opportunities and high engagement during instructional activities. Students were divided into a literacy group and a direct instruction group with each class being taught the same content. Literacy strategies were incorporated in one class, and direct instruction activities were used in the other class. Results were determined using pre and posttest scores, a student motivation questionnaire, and a student engagement checklist. Results indicated significantly higher student achievement and engagement when literacy strategies were a part of the social studies instruction. Motivation also increased when literacy strategies were used. Literacy instruction was a beneficial strategy to improve student achievement, motivation, and engagement.

Professional Book Reviews: Teaching Practices That Support Biliterate Learning

In this issue of Language Arts, we review four recent books about teaching and learning with and from emergent bilingual students. The books examine reading workshop, building content knowledge through meaningful instruction, and creating pedagogical practices that transcend content areas. The authors of these selections outline and illustrate classroom practices that build on children’s entire linguistic repertoire's in order to create meaningful curriculum. Readers will walk away from these reviews informed about research and pedagogy and ready to value their emergent bilingual student'cultural and linguistic resources, viewing seeing them as possibilities to explore rather than hurdles to overcome.