A Critical Thinking Map to Improve Content Area Comprehension of Poor Readers

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Abstract
A mapping strategy for thinking critically about expository text was used with six high school students who had difficulties in reading comprehension: Four were sophomores in a remedial reading program, and two were juniors in a special education program for the mildly retarded. Subjects read passages from an unfamiliar textbook on U.S. government history. The format was model- lead-test; that is, the teacher first modeled the strategy, then led the student in completing the map, and finally allowed the student to complete the map independently. The components of the critical thinking map were main idea of the passage, major points that support the main idea, other viewpoints, reader's conclusion, and relevance to a contemporary situation. All subjects improved substantially in daily comprehension of lessons. Remedial reading students showed maintained improvement over time. All subjects improved comprehension of passages from a different social studies text indicating ability to generalize to similar content. Four students also showed generalization of improved performance to reading in a different content area. All subjects improved in a standardized test of reading vocabulary and five of the six improved on a test of reading comprehension. All but one subject demonstrated improved generalization to nonverbal thinking tasks and all improved for verbal thinking.

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