Inquiry Review

Food Chains and Food Webs Junior Science

In comparison to fiction, nonfiction texts often present greater challenges for our students. The flow of a narrative in fiction aids comprehension as one event seamlessly transitions into the next. While this may seem like an oversimplification, the accumulation of detailed information in nonfiction can be overwhelming, particularly when it requires familiarity with a specialized set of vocabulary. It is essential for educators teaching disciplinary subjects to pay attention to the lexical density of the texts utilized in their instruction. Research indicates that students benefit from multiple exposures to new vocabulary in order to effectively assimilate new terms. This is particularly pertinent when they encounter subject-specific terminology predominantly found in fields such as science or technology.



Food Chain and Food Webs

Reciprocal Teaching at Tamaki College 2025 -a discussion document

Art: Henri Rousseau and Lexical Density

This art text offers another opportunity to use Reciprocal Teaching Strategies. Again the lexical density will be a problem for many of our Year 11 students. Not only are students required to process sophisticated noun groups such as 'unconventional renderings,' 'outrageous imagery' and 'hybrid influences' there is the whole history of European art rolled up in the text. There is a reference to many famous artists. A Google search should help students develop an understanding of various art movements such as Realism and Cubism but it is less likely to explain the controversy and vitriol which raged during this period of art history. Loaded terms such as 'high and low sources' carry immense cultural baggage along with such art history terms as Orientalism and Surrealism.

Karen Fergeson hunted around for a suitable text for her Year 11 students, she then added a vocabulary grid and a prereading activity. I added to the prediction exercise, I added a map, a keyword list and an art movement matching exercise. We taught the lesson together adding discussions on the various art movements and trends related to the period.

The scaffolding of this two-paragraph text still seems inadequate but there is a time factor to consider when delivering the Curriculum. Non-fiction texts have a lexical density and cultural underpinnings that far outweigh fiction texts. The structure of a non-fiction text also creates problems for many of our students.

Science: The Binomial System of Naming Species and Classification of Life

I'm more than happy to work on texts for or with subject teachers. The two texts 'The Binomial System of Naming Species and Classification of Life' offer a chance to include tasks to help students improve their comprehension skills. Reciprocal Teaching strategies are a must when presenting content to our students. The lexical density found in the Binomial System of Naming species is mind-numbing. Not only are there the scientific terms which the teacher wants the students to master genus and species there is also a huge amount of background knowledge, both historical and cultural, needed to comprehend this text.
The mention of an 18th-century Swedish scientist at the start of the text implies the reader has some knowledge of the development of modern modern science and scientific methodology. Also buried in the text is an understanding of European culture and its development out of Greek and Roman academic institutions. The use of Greek and more importantly Latin by the church as a universal language is also implied. Throw in some understanding of the West's colonial enterprises and the occupation of the gentleman explorer is echoed in the text.
If a student is a fan of the hero genre, knowing who Hercules was might help in the reading of this text, but for many of our students, these ancient references will be alien concepts. By contrast, when I was a primary school student, I had extra lessons from a retired English woman, who was fluent in ancient Greek. (Later she complained, that it was totally useless when she spent a year living in post-war Greece.) It opened up a whole new world to me and in my early years going to church on a Sunday meant listening to the service in Latin. Unfortunately, there are few ancient Greek speakers about and even Latin teachers are now rare. For many of our students bridging this gap will be difficult and scaffolding the document can only help up to a point.
These two pieces of text offer an excellent opportunity to teach comprehension skills such as scanning, predicting, summarising and sorting information. If our students are to succeed in the Co-requisite Assessments they need to be exposed to a wide variety of texts but this needs to be delivered in a structured way.