Knowledgematterscampaign.org Website Review

are your children learning enough to make their dreams come true? marine biologists? archeologists? astronauts? probably not. probably not. the national as*essment of educational progress tells us the majority of 8th graders are below grade level in reading, math,. reading comprehension depends on broad knowledge and a large vocabulary. from newspapers to novels, all texts for literate ad*lts omit basic information—they use terms, draw an*logies, and make references without offering definitions or explanations. in short, they as*ume that the reader has a base level of knowledge. in order for children to grow into literate ad*lts that read widely with ease, all schools must make building broad knowledge—teaching all the knowledge that by daniel willingham and watch willingham’s video, “teaching content is teaching reading genetically determined, a more accurate view is that intelligence is influenced by both genes and the environment. learning new knowledge actually increases intelligence. just like practice in sports leads to new skills and better performance, time spent reading and studying. richard nisbett. knowledge is like an interest-bearing savings account: the more you know, the faster you learn. starting a subject. from scratch is tough; adding a few more facts and concepts to something you already know a lot about is easy. another way to think about your knowledge is like a sticky web. the bigger your web, the more stuff will stick to it. the smaller your web, the more information will pas* on by without being added to your store of knowledge. to learn more, watch robert pondiscio’s presentation on “the 57 most important words in education reform broad knowledge is necessary for comprehension—so it’s also the starting place for critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity. try an*lyzing the primary causes of the u.s. civil war without knowing much about america in the first half of the 19th century. try designing a study to compare water-filtration technologies without knowing much about waterborne diseases or filtration methods. there