TEACHING STRATEGIES TO CREATE VISUAL REPRESENTATIONS OF KEY IDEAS IN CONTENT AREA TEXT MATERIALS - A LONG-TERM INTERVENTION INSERTED IN SCHOOL CURRICULUM

This paper describes a long-term research in which middle-grade school children were taught how to represent visually text key ideas through idea-mapping techniques. It consists of three studies, one for each y ear of our research. Children were at sixth grade when the instruction began, and they were at eighth grade when it finished. Another group of children from a different public school sewed as control group. Ins truction was very close to the real school conditions. instructors wer e ordinary teachers, instruction was inserted in the content area curr iculum, and ordinary textbooks were regularly employed, though combine d with specially elaborated materials. Results were positive in the ca se of the first and third year, depending on instructional conditions. Positive effects were found on recall, comprehension and learning, bu t they were different in the three studies. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.