The effectiveness of open-ended prompts varies by grade level and collaboration, with individual written prompts not supporting fifth and sixth grade comprehension but peer discussion and older students' use showing positive outcomes¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (3 entries) · review r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2023 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Upper elementary and middle school students responding to open-ended prompts via whole class, group, or paired discussions experienced positive comprehension outcomes, per the review's synthesis. → Courtney Hattan 2023 q2 i? KWL charts did not improve lower elementary students' maze, vocabulary recognition, or free recall performance (Stahl, 2008, as reported by the review). → Courtney Hattan 2023 (2) q2 i? Open-ended prompts appeared to facilitate comprehension more consistently for high school and undergraduate students, per the review's synthesis. → Courtney Hattan 2023 (3)

Evidence¶

Courtney Hattan 2023¶

Courtney Hattan, Patricia A. Alexander, and Sarah M. Lupo. (2023). Leveraging What Students Know to Make Sense of Texts: What the Research Says About Prior Knowledge Activation. Review of Educational Research. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Leveraging+What+Students+Know+to+Make+Sense+of+Texts+Prior+Knowledge+Activation

q2 · i? · review · r3

The review attributes this pattern to multiple studies it cites (Andreassen & Bråten, 2011; Bråten et al., 2017; Dole et al., 1991), suggesting peer discussion may be particularly important for knowledge activation with upper elementary and middle school students.

"Yet, researchers found that upper elementary and middle school students who responded to open-ended prompts via whole class, group, or paired discussions, experienced positive comprehension outcomes"

Courtney Hattan 2023 (2)¶

Courtney Hattan, Patricia A. Alexander, and Sarah M. Lupo. (2023). Leveraging What Students Know to Make Sense of Texts: What the Research Says About Prior Knowledge Activation. Review of Educational Research. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Leveraging+What+Students+Know+to+Make+Sense+of+Texts+Prior+Knowledge+Activation

q2 · i? · review · r3

The review reports, citing Stahl (2008), that lower elementary students used KWL charts both individually and collaboratively without improved performance on the three named outcome tasks. The review suggests younger students may require more structured activation support.

"However, in this study, KWL did not lead to improved performance on maze, vocabulary recognition, or free recall tasks."

Courtney Hattan 2023 (3)¶

Courtney Hattan, Patricia A. Alexander, and Sarah M. Lupo. (2023). Leveraging What Students Know to Make Sense of Texts: What the Research Says About Prior Knowledge Activation. Review of Educational Research. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Leveraging+What+Students+Know+to+Make+Sense+of+Texts+Prior+Knowledge+Activation

q2 · i? · review · r3

The review's cross-study pattern for older students, noting that all undergraduate studies used individual writing rather than discussion. The review hedges with appeared to, and notes a high school study (Guzzetti, 1990) found no significant differences on application problems versus control.

"open-ended prompts appeared to facilitate text comprehension more consistently for high school (Martin et al., 1986) and undergraduate students (Hattan & Alexander, 2018; Pressley et al., 1990)."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Collaboration — moderator: an instructional effect differs with it

Related Claims¶

• Some classroom discussion approaches improve text comprehension, but gains are not uniform across approaches and more student talk alone does not produce them — related