Using Literacy Strategies to Promote Content Area Literacy in Mathematics

摘要

Integrating literacy within content specific classrooms has emerged as a key element for educators since secondary readers are falling behind. There exist strategies that can be used before, during, and after reading that can be applied to all content area courses. The purpose of this research was to determine if implementation of literacy strategies in two seventh grade mathematics classrooms in a rural public school could enhance achievement/understanding in a geometry unit. Data from assessments were compared to a control class that was taught the same material using traditional instruction. It was found that the implementation of literacy strategies in experimental mathematics classrooms alleviated three major misconceptions on the topic of geometry including, (a) whether a square was a rectangle or a rectangle was a square, (b) whether the radius is the distance across the circle, and (c) what properties make a polygon.