your middle school students’ background knowledge · january 2012 33 jump-start your middle...

32 SCIENCE SCOPE

One of the most challenging tasks in our increasingly diverse classrooms is help-ing students develop the “knowledge and language of science to communicate sci-

entific explanations and ideas” (NRC 1996, p. 144). We’d like to share one of our favorite methods for incorporating and reinforcing science vocabulary in-struction in the classroom. Jump pages (Corder and Gore 2010) are a way to use available technology to maximize the science content knowledge of all learn-ers. Jump pages can be used in the single-computer classroom (with or without internet access), the com-puter lab, and students’ homes.

What is a jump page?A jump page is a jumping-off point for a variety of instructional activities related to a particular science topic in the form of a single PowerPoint slide with links to learning resources (videos, web pages, flash cards, activity sheets, etc.) that can be accessed without an internet connection. The PowerPoint slide and the activities linked to the PowerPoint slide are housed in the jump-page parent folder. Housing

all of the files within the parent folder is what allows the jump page to work without requiring internet access. The activities included in a jump page are only limited by your imagination. Jump pages can incorporate any activity that you feel will reinforce student learning on a topic.

Our model jump page (see Figure 1) is based on the topic of electricity and magnetism. Within this page, we have links to videos on the history of electricity and concepts of magnetism, a PowerPoint of flash cards with electricity and magnetism terms coupled with graphical images, a web page with animated interac-tive diagrams about electric circuits, a web page about static electricity, and a printable Word document that can be used as a formative assessment after students have worked through the other activities. Jump pages also offer the opportunity to include important infor-mation such as famous scientists or historical/cultural developments related to the topic of study to enhance multicultural awareness. In short, any learning tool that you can save into the jump-page parent folder can be incorporated into the jump page (Corder and Gore 2010).

by Elizabeth Ward and Dara Williams-Rossi

JUMP-START Your Middle School Students’

Background Knowledge and Vocabulary Skills

J a n u a r y 2 012 33

JUMP-START YOUR MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS

The importance of background knowledge and vocabulary instructionLearning vocabulary is a critical component of stu-dent achievement. According to Marzano, “Enhanc-ing students’ academic background knowledge is a worthy goal of public education from a number of perspectives. In fact, given the relationship be-tween academic background knowledge and aca-demic achievement, one can make the case that [vocabulary instruction] should be at the top of any list of interventions intended to enhance student achievement” (2004, p. 4). Research, which shows the following, has even provided a general outline to guide teachers (Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock 2001):

• Students need a minimum of six exposures in context before they can recall a word and re-member its meaning.

• Even cursory vocabulary instruction increases the probability that students will understand the words when they read them.

• Associating a new word with a mental image or symbol is one of the most effective ways to learn vocabulary.

• Direct vocabulary instruction increases com-prehension of new material.

• The most powerful learning is achieved with explicit instruction of critical and reoccurring words in the curriculum.

Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock further recommend that, in its simplest form, direct and explicit instruc-tion with multiple exposures and graphics is the effec-tive way to teach vocabulary (2001). Based on more than 30 years of research, Marzano (2004) developed a six-step process to teach vocabulary, which we have paraphrased below:

Step 1: The teacher describes or explains the term.• The teacher gives explanations and examples,

not definitions.

Step 2: Students restate the term in their own words.• Students write the term and definition in their

notebook without copying the teacher’s exam-ple or using a dictionary.

Step 3: Students create a nonlinguistic representation of the term.

• Immediately after step 2, students add a drawing to their notebooks to represent the term.

Step 4: Students elaborate on the terms with activities that build vocabulary knowledge.

• Periodically, students add new information to the terms in their notebooks.

• The students uses analogies, sentence starters, graphic organizers, etc., to add knowledge.

Step 5: Students are asked to discuss the terms with one another.

• The teacher can pose questions relating to the terms and have students participate in think-pair-share activities.

Step 6: Students play games that allow them to use the terms.

• Students can play games such as charades, Jeop-ardy, or bingo for a few minutes at the beginning or end of class.

Ideally, the first three steps should be completed in sequential order during one lesson. However, this explicit vocabulary instruction needs to be appropri-ately situated within the context of inquiry-based sci-ence instruction.

Strong science instruction begins with firsthand experiences for learners as they “do” science through engaging inquiry methods before vocabulary instruc-tion takes place. Giving students the opportunity to engage in science through interacting with peers, processing information, and constructing knowledge provides the foundation needed to prepare them to gain secondhand science knowledge—deeper, conceptual understanding of a topic through discourse, reading, and reflection. For example, the 5E instructional model incorporates the Engage and Explore phases to begin a lesson. These phases provide hands-on opportunities for students to become engaged in the topic of study and a common base of experience related to the topic. The Explain phase of the lesson is when the teacher can connect students’ informal language to the formal vocabulary. The use of jump pages is a good fit during this phase. The last three steps of Marzano’s model


34 SCIENCE SCOPE

are designed to be implemented throughout the school year, instead of a single lesson. The materials and ac-tivities used in steps 4 through 6 can be continuously updated as new vocabulary is introduced.

Benefits of jump pagesWe have found that jump pages are suitable for all students for a variety of reasons. First, technology is a natural way to engage students—who are digi-tal natives—in learning activities. Our students want and need to learn using the variety of resources avail-able through technology. Second, because the activi-ties on a jump page do not have to be completed in a particular order (unless specified by you), students have a choice in which activities they complete. In ad-dition, students can repeat an activity as many times as necessary in order to master the content. Third, because the content can be presented simultaneously in multiple ways, (i.e., graphical, verbal, interactive, video), students are more likely to develop concep-tual understanding of the topic. Jump pages are a great way to reinforce science vocabulary as part of steps 4 through 6 of Marzano’s model. Finally, jump pages are a great way to use classroom technology. They can be stored on the classroom computer and

accessed by students anytime. Because all of the files are stored in the jump-page folder, internet access is not required. In addition, jump-page folders can be copied to a CD and given to students for use at home or on other computers they can access.

The number of English language learners (ELLs) in school is increasing, and it is vital to use multiple meth-ods to support these learners with information in their native language. For example, a translation website will allow students to type a vocabulary word that will appear in the language of their choice. As an alterna-tive, vocabulary can be previewed in the student’s first language, allowing for connections to prior knowledge. Also, video links enable students to make connections between the vocabulary and real-life applications. As ELL students proceed through the jump page, with both visual and nonvisual clues, they are able to do so at their own pace, providing a sheltered environment to build science literacy.

Perhaps the most effective way to use jump pages in your classroom is to allow students to create their own jump page. These jump pages can be used as a form of review of the content or as an alternative way to assess student learning. Student-created jump pages are a technology-rich way for students to reinforce and extend

Sample jump pageFIGURE 1

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their science vocabulary and content knowledge. Ini-tially, you should create some jump pages to model the types of materials that are suitable for inclusion. How-ever, jump pages are easy to build, and middle school students can and should be encouraged to create jump pages for either their own use or to share with class-mates. Creating jump pages reinforces the information learned by students in steps 1 through 3 of Marzano’s model. The act of deciding how to best represent vo-cabulary terms in multiple formats (graphical, pictorial, video, etc.) serves to deepen students’ understanding of the science vocabulary and content knowledge.

Building a jump pageThe first step in building a jump page is to create a jump-page parent folder where you can save all of the materials related to the jump page (graphics, web pages, videos, graphic organizers, PowerPoints, etc.). This step is crucial and is what allows the jump page to work, even without access to the internet. After cre-ating the folder, we saved all of the files needed for our jump page in the parent folder. Figure 2 shows the contents of our folder, which include the following: (1) the jump-page PowerPoint slide, (2) the graph-ics for the jump-page PowerPoint slide, (3) the vid-eos, PowerPoint, and web pages, and (4) the lesson assessment document. A detailed discussion about assessment options follows this section. Figure 3 pro-vides important tips about the various types of files that you can include in your jump page.

Once you have all of your files together, create the PowerPoint page that will serve as the jump page. A “title and content” layout works the best. Insert the

graphics or word art that will let students access the content of the jump page through hyperlinks. Then you begin the process of hyperlinking the graphics or word art to the files. To hyperlink a graphic to a file, right click on the graphic and select “Hyperlink.” A window will open that allows you to select the file you wish to hyperlink. Go to your jump-page folder, select the appropriate file, and click “OK.” Please note that the hyperlinks will only work when the PowerPoint slide is in presentation mode. Once you have completed these steps for each graphic and file, your jump page is ready for students to use.

Using jump pages for assessmentAs with any classroom assignment, teachers need to evaluate student learning with some form of assess-ment. We have identified two main ways to evaluate student learning using jump pages: (1) incorporating an assessment document in the jump page and (2) using the jump page as an alternative assessment of student learning.

Assessing individual student learning after viewing a jump page simply requires including some form of assessment instrument for students to complete. There are several ways to do this. In our example page, we have included a link to a Word document that students can print and complete after viewing the web page (see Figure 1). Alternately, the assessment document could be completed and saved to a file that the teacher would access later for grading. More advanced users can em-bed a self-grading quiz in the jump page using the same procedures for including a web link in the jump page. Easy-to-use templates for creating self-grading quiz-zes can be found at http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/resources/quizzes/quizzes.html.

Student-created jump pages can serve as an alterna-tive form of assessment and can be evaluated using a rubric (see a sample rubric in Figure 4; a web-based version of this rubric is available from Rcampus at www.rcampus.com/rubricshowc.cfm?code=C55366&sp=yes).

ConclusionResearch shows that explicit vocabulary instruction is crucial to students developing the science content knowledge necessary for increased academic achieve-ment. We have not yet had the opportunity to conduct a study to formally evaluate the effectiveness of jump pag-es. However, when we observe students using and cre-ating jump pages in the classroom, we note a high level

Contents of jump-page parent folderFIGURE 2


36 SCIENCE SCOPE

Creating jump pages in PowerPoint (tips for teachers and students)FIGURE 3

Getting started

• Create a folder to save all of the files you will use in your jump page. This step is crucial.

• Save a copy of any existing files (i.e., Word docu-ments, clip art, videos) that you want to use in this folder.

• Create one slide in PowerPoint—this will be your jump page. Be sure to save it in this folder.

• Save any other files you want to use in this folder. See tips, below, for various types of files to make sure you get all of the information saved in this folder and for your jump page to work properly.

Hyperlinking files

• Once you have all of the files you want to use saved to the master jump-page folder, you can begin hy-perlinking the files to the graphics/WordArt on your jump page.

• Right click on a graphic and select “Hyperlink.” Se-lect the file (Word document, web page, video, etc.) that you want to link and click “OK.” Repeat this step for each graphic on your jump page.

• Remember that the hyperlink will only work when you are in the “view show” mode.

• If your hyperlinks do not work, check the path and make sure that your graphic is linked to a file in the master jump-page folder.

Tips for web pages

• Go to the web page that you want to use.

• Click “File” and then “Save as.” A dialog box will open. Under “Save as type,” click on the option for “webpage, complete (*.htm, *.html)” and click “Save” (making sure that you choose your jump-page folder as the destination). This step is essential for the web page to work without access to the internet.

• When you look at your jump-page folder, you will see two items with the same name: the blue Internet Explorer “e” and a file folder. When you hyperlink your graphic to the web page in your jump page, you will hyperlink it to the blue “e.” The file folder contains all of the information needed for the web page to load properly on your jump page. This file will not be linked to anything on the jump page.

• Each web page will need to be saved using this method. In addition, every web page will need to be linked to a separate icon on the jump page.

Tips for videos

• Make sure that the software you need to play the video is installed on the computer(s) where students will use the jump page (e.g., RealPlayer).

• To avoid ads, join a video service (e.g., Teacher-Tube). This will allow you to save the video and not the ads that are connected to the video file.

of engagement not typically found in traditional vocabu-lary lessons. Our experience in a variety of K–12 class-rooms suggests that jump pages are an effective means for reinforcing and deepening students’ understanding of science vocabulary and content knowledge. n

ReferencesCorder, J., and J. Gore. 2010. Successful solutions for

technology integration. Eugene, OR: Visions Technology in Education.

Marzano, R.J. 2004. Building background knowledge for academic achievement: Research on what works in schools. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Marzano, R.J., D.J. Pickering, and J.E. Pollock. 2001. Class-

room instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

National Research Council (NRC). 1996. National science education standards. Washington, DC: National Acad-emies Press.

Elizabeth Ward ([email protected]) is an assistant professor of education and director of field experience in the Department of Undergraduate Education at Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, Texas. Dara Williams-Rossi is an assistant clinical professor and director of undergraduate programs in the Simmons School of Education at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

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Jump-page evaluation rubricFIGURE 4

Beginning designer(1 point)

Emerging designer(2 points)

Expert designer(3 points)

Overall design Overall design of jump page is easy to read and navigate, few links are consistent with theme, and few links work correctly.

Overall design of jump page is easy to read and navigate, most links are consistent with theme, and most links work correctly.

Overall design of jump page is easy to read and navigate, design has a clear and consistent theme with all links, and all links work correctly.

Link 1: Video Content is inappropriate or inaccurate for selected theme, OR there is no clear connection between theme and content of chosen link, OR link does not work properly.

Content is mostly accurate, appropriate, and engaging, OR connection between theme and content of chosen link is ques-tionable. All files open properly and function as intended.

Content is accurate, ap-propriate, and engaging. Connection between theme and content of chosen link is clear. All files open properly and function as intended.

Link 2: PowerPoint Content is inappropriate or inaccurate for selected theme, OR there’s no clear connection between theme and content of chosen link, OR link does not work properly.



Link 3: Web page Content is inappropriate or inaccurate for selected theme, OR there’s no clear connection between theme and content of chosen link, OR link does not work properly.



Link 4: Other (please specify)

Content is inappropriate or inaccurate for selected theme, OR there’s no clear connection between theme and content of chosen link, OR link does not work properly.



Assessment file Assessment is inappropriate or inaccurate for selected theme, OR link does not work properly.

Assessment is mostly accurate and appropriate, OR connec-tion between assessment items and content presented in links is questionable. All files open properly and function as intended.

Assessment is accurate and appropriate. Assess-ment items are clearly compatible with content presented in links. All files open properly and function as intended.

your middle school students’ background knowledge · january 2012 33 jump-start your middle...

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