Effectiveness of Question Exploration to Enhance Students' Written Expression of Content Knowledge and Comprehension

This study examined the effectiveness of a Question Exploration Routine and associated graphic organizer for enhancing the performance of students of diverse abilities when assessed on knowledge and comprehension of content and quality of written responses. Participants were 36 students with and without learning disabilities (LD) in Grades 9 through 12 in an inner city school district. Students were randomly assigned to experimental or control conditions. Results showed significant differences and moderately large to very large effect sizes for students in the experimental condition compared to students in the control condition with regard to knowledge and comprehension of content and written responses to a question. More variation in performance was found for the group of students with LD than for those without LD.