WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF

GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS ON
STUDENTS’ READING
COMPREHENSION OF SCIENCE
CONTENT AREA TEXT?
BY: BRITTANY ORT

Graphic Organizer
An aid which visually depicts the relationship between concepts and is designed to
enhance reading comprehension

ACTION RESEARCH
Hypothetical

METHODOLOGY

PARTICIPANTS
20-30 eighth grade students
from one school
•Can read independently
•Literature reviews included
information about middle
school students and scientific
text
1. Read 1st pre-selected text- Mount Pinatubo and the Ring of
Fire (ReadWorks, 2013)
2. Complete comprehension
assessment related to the text
3. Read 2nd pre-selected text- Long-term Monitoring of the
Hudson River (American Museum of Natural History, 2015)
4. Complete Graphic Organizer during and after
reading 2nd text
5. Complete comprehension assessment related to
the text

FINDINGS RECOMMENDATIONS

Increase in the percentage of students Teachers should use multiple

who correctly answered the
comprehension
assessment questions after using the
graphic organizers
Vocabulary should not have hindered a
student’s reading comprehension
When looking at the graphic organizers,
should have found that students can
extract main details from the text.
Students could explicitly
demonstrate understanding of details
contained in the text.
reading comprehension strategies
Teachers should incorporate more
vocabulary-based instructional
practices
Graphic organizers should
accompany effective pedagogical
practices
Future research:
Larger sample size
Expand definition of scientific
text or study science articles versus
science textbook reading comprehension
Different types of graphic
organizers- students could create their
own