Effects of Knowledge Building on Elementary School Students’ Reading Comprehension

Abstract

The study aims to explore how students used Knowledge Forum as a platform of receiving a knowledge building teaching method. Therefore, the relationship among students’ activities in knowledge Forum and their reading comprehension performance were investigated in this study. Two classes with different teaching methods were involved, and the knowledge building pedagogy was applied in the experimental class. On the other hand, the students in the control class received a traditional teacher-centered didactic instruction method. The data were collected from students’ PIRLS reading scores and their online activities, which were run by t-test and ANCOVA. The result revealed that students in the experimental group showed more progress in reading comprehension ability than those who were in the control group. In addition, the students receiving knowledge building method were progressively involved in the interaction and discussion with others. Moreover, their reading comprehension scores were strongly correlated both with the degree of participation and the quality of discussion in the forum.