Improving Content Knowledge in Social Studies for Upper Elementary Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23918/ijsses.v5i3p18Keywords:
PACT, Social Studies, Elementary Education, Primary Sources, Reading ComprehensionAbstract
This study investigated the effects of the instructional method Promoting Acceleration of Comprehension and Content through Text (PACT) on the social studies content acquisition, reading comprehension, and attitudes towards socials studies in fourth grade students. The use of PACT has been investigated heavily in middle-school and high school social studies classes, shown to consistently produce positive results in content acquisition and retention in these two age groups. PACT was administered to the treatment group. It was found to increase content acquisition in the treatment group by a statistically significant margin. No effect was found on student attitudes. Inconsistent results were found in reading comprehension. ANCOVA were used to analyze pre/post-test data on content test, reading comprehension articles from ReadWorks, and Attitudes Towards Social Studies survey. PACT seems to have had a positive impact on student content acquisition.
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