The highlighted portions show how one group explains the way a strategy changes children's understanding of text. Although not very sophisticated, the answer focuses on core constructivist principles.

1) To begin, we feel that Arlene should explain to her students why reading for comprehension is important and why they will spend time in class learning how to read and take notes. Doing this will motivate the students to read for comprehension by encouraging their maturity and independence. Arlene can also motivate her students by explaining to them that they will have more time for fun activities if they learn the basic concepts from the text. The readings then will be reinforced during the activities through application of the concepts.

2) Next, Arlene needs to take time to teach students how to read for comprehension. The students need to learn how to do this so they will have a base to build off of in her class and for future classes. If Arlene wants her students to learn basic concepts from the text it is crucial that they learn how to read the text for comprehension. To do this Arlene can model the appropriate way to read and take notes. The class would begin by reading a section of the text together. Arlene would then explain what she is writing down as notes, why she chose to write that, and what she is thinking as she goes through the process. The next step would be to have students do this in groups or pairs and then eventually wean them off of help until they can take notes by them self. These steps will allow students to connect their past knowledge of reading for comprehension or start a new knowledge base.

3) Give the students problem solving/thought provoking questions to encourage students to apply and connect their knowledge. Using these types of questions would force students to connect previous knowledge or form new schema. The questions also guide students through the reading and draw attention to the important concepts. An example of one such question would be: Explain the relationships between elements, atoms, and molecules.

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