Do+students+who+underline+important+in+fictional+text+comprehend+the+reading+better+than+students+who+do+not?+-+Megan+Hess

__**Idea: **__// Why underlining? // I chose to conduct my experiment about underlining because I always viewed underlining as a strategy you can only use while you are reading an educational piece. I prefer and enjoy fictional readings better and I was interested to see if I had been wrong about my assumption after I viewed my scores of the reading strategies survey we took in class. __**Question: **__ Do students who underline fictional text while reading comprehend the text better than those who don’t? __**Variables:**__ Manipulated- Underlining y/n? Responding- Comprehension of reading Controlled- Environment, reading level of student, sex, reading passage, quiz questions, amount of reading time, academic tools, time of day __**Hypothesis: **__ If students who underline comprehension skills are tested and compared to those who don’t, underlining will prove to be an effective reading strategy because it will help the reader focus on key points of the text and force them think. __**Procedure: **__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1) Select a fictional reading passage that is suggested for seventh grade students (based on state standards) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2) Select or create a quiz designed to assess the comprehension of the reader <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3) Ask half (4) of the testing group (8) to read the passage without making any type of mark on their paper <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4) Take away the reading and ask the first half of the group (Referred to as Group A) to complete the quiz <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">5) Grade Group A’s quizzes and make a five part summary of their scores <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">6) Ask the other half of the group (Referred to as Group B) to read the passage and require them to underline what they think is important <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">7) Take away the reading and ask Group B to complete the quiz <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">8) Grade Group B’s quizzes and make a five part summary or their scores <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">9) Compare the data of Group A and B <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">10) Record your results and draw a conclusion <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">__**Data:**__ <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Students who underlined: <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Student 1- 80% <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Student 2- 80% <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Student 3- 100% <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Average... 86.6%

Students who didn't underline: Student 4- 80% Student 5- 60% Student 6- 100% Average... 80% Students who underlined while they read fictional text showed an average of 6.6% increase of score on their comprehension quiz. I proved my hypothesis correct in that underlining improves the comprehension of students, even while reading fictional text. Teachers- I recommend that teachers implement the underlining strategy in the classroom to strengthen their students comprehension skills and explain to your students that underlining is not only for nonfiction text. Students- I recommend using the underlining strategy while you read to improve your comprehension and your grades. Parents- Introduce the underlining strategy at a young age so that the misconception that underlining is for nonfiction text only is dissipated.
 * __Conclusion:__**
 * __Recommendations:__**

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