Access Type

Open Access Dissertation

Date of Award

January 2015

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ed.D.

Department

Elementary Education

First Advisor

Poonam Arya

Abstract

Abstract

A play intervention was used with second grade students to help them develop a deeper understanding of format based informational text features. On Day 1 of the intervention, groups of students role played as reporters as they observed classmates at play. During Days 2 - 5 of the intervention, the same students wrote an informational book about the play they had observed. A pre-interview was used to determine which format based informational text features were noticed and/or explained by the students in an informational trade book. The text features that were included in the trade book were: table of contents, heading, photograph, diagram, bold words, glossary, index and labels. On the post-interview, conducted months after the intervention, all groups increased the number of text features noticed and/or explained. Analysis of the discussions during Days 2 - 5 was conducted to see what aspect of the intervention was responsible for the increased score on the post-interview. For some students, hearing other members of the group mention a text feature during the intervention was the catalyst for learning that text feature. For other students, text features were noticed on the post-interview that were never mentioned during the intervention by group members. For those students, the play itself created opportunities for developing a greater understanding of format based text features.

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