Chapter 3 Teacher as Archeologist: Assessing Background Knowledge Fisher, D. & Frey, N. (2009). Background Knowledge: The Missing Piece of the Comprehension Puzzle. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Discuss the ways to determine the background knowledge a student might possess Examine the role of misconceptions on learning Review assessment tools to expose background knowledge Today’s Purposes

Table Talk Discuss a time when you initially believed one thing about a student and then learned something unexpected. How did you learn this? What teacher skills helped you?

Surveying: Knowing where to look Excavating: Bringing it to the surface Examining: Using tools for analysis Teacher As Archeologist

Requires knowing where to look Incidental knowledge vs. core knowledge This is the difference between what is interesting vs. what is essential Wiggins & McTighe: enduring understandings Surveying Knowledge

CoreIncidental Foundational to understanding main concepts. Representation Interesting but incidental. Requires multiple exposures and experiences. Transmission Can be explained or defined easily (label, fact, or name). Needed again to understand future concepts. Transferability Specific to this concept; unlikely to be used later. Will be remembered after details are forgotten. Enduring Not likely to be recalled later. Comparing Incidental and Core Knowledge

CoreIncidental Knowledge of the era regarding the importance of maintaining reputations. Importance of revenge to resolve grievances. Role of family reputation through generations. Symbolism of the Montressor coat of arms. The unreliable narrator as a literary device. Impunity: getting away with something with no punishment. Carnival celebrations. Amontillado is a kind of wine. Wine cellars and catacombs are underground. Freemasons are a secret society. The Cask of the Amontillado (Poe)

Core Concept in Middle School Plane Geometry

Bringing it to the surface so that students notice what they know and do not know Focus is on anticipating misconceptions Excavating Knowledge

Misconceptions Represent a fundamental flaw in knowledge and reasoning Cascading effect Building new knowledge on a shaky foundation results in selective learning to justify the misconception

Resources for Misconceptions

Anticipation Guide in Earth Science

Opinionnaire in History

Table Talk What are misconceptions common to your discipline? What instructional routines can you use to unearth these misconceptions?

Examining Knowledge Requires tools for analysis Can include previous benchmark assessments Informal reading inventories to determine reading levels Metacomprehension Strategies Index Cloze assessments Interest surveys

Metacomprehension Metacomprehension Strategies Index (Schmitt, 1990) 25-item assessment that can be administered in one session Example item: While I am reading, it is a good idea to: A. Keep track of how long it is taking me to read the story B. Check to see if I can answer any of the questions I asked before I started reading C. Read the title to see what the story is going to be about D. Add the missing details to the pictures.

Originally developed for readability Now used to assess content knowledge Teacher-made 250-word passage Every fifth word deleted Scoring Independent level: 60% correct or above Instructional level: 40 – 59% correct Frustration level: 39% or below Cloze Assessments

Locate a passage of about 250 words (a summary paragraph from the textbook is a good choice) Leave first sentence intact so that the reader can understand the context Remove every fifth word (even the little words): don’t change this! No word bank Constructing a Cloze

Can reduce overall length of passage (do not go below 150 words) Can increase frequency of blanks to every seventh word Differentiation of Cloze

Used in market research Commonly used to determine reading interests Rarely used for other purposes Why? Interest Surveys

Interest Survey in Biology

Table Talk What practices can you incorporate into your classroom in order to assess background knowledge?

Assessing Your Practice Use the rubric to determine your goals for addressing misconceptions and assessing background knowledge.

Visit the MOSART (Misconception Oriented Standards-based Assessment Resource for Teachers) at This center is developing misconceptions assessments in science and math. Take a look at the Saskatoon (CN) Public School’s website support called Instructional Strategies Online. Their resource for the cloze procedure is at Subscribe to Voice of Literacy, a free podcast series available at These are short (15 minutes) and informative and address many aspects of children’s and adolescent’s literacy. Building Your Own Background Knowledge