Transcript Children’s Learning in a Digital World August 19

ABRACADABRA: The evaluation of
a computer-based reading intervention
Dr Robert Savage and colleagues:
Dr Philip C. Abrami
and the CSLP team across Canada
ABRACADABRA
 Literacy


Beginning readers
Teachers of beginning readers
 Based on research
 Web-based application
 Modular: Activities, Stories, Professional
Development, Communication, Assessment
 Flexible - no required path, customizable for
particular needs, single or multiple student use,
classroom/lab, at-home, etc.
ABRACADABRA – beware of
cheap imitations…..
The need for controlled research
studies of computer-based literacy
 There is a large body of research on
computer-based intervention
 Much research has not been well-controlled
Lack of randomized control
Studies have not ‘isolated the medium of
instruction’
(Torgersen & Zhu, 2003)
Abracadabra Research Design
 Groups of 4 students, randomly assigned to intervention A or
B, removed from their class during language arts period
 Each for 20 minutes 4 times per week
 Each group also received identical comprehension, fluency
tasks but differed in subtle ways on aspects of alphabetics.



Intervention A: these students’ activities had a particular focus on
phoneme blending and segmenting activities.
Intervention B: these students’ activities focused on a progression
from sentences to words to rhymes.
Comparison group: This group remained in the classroom and
received classroom language arts instruction.
Results of Grade 1 Intervention
Letter-sound knowledge
24.5
24
23.5
23
Phoneme
22.5
Rime
22
Control
21.5
21
20.5
Pre-test
Post-test
Results of Grade 1 intervention
CTOPP Blending standard score
110
108
106
104
102
100
98
96
94
92
Phoneme
Rime
Control
Pre-test
Post-test
Results of Grade 1 Intervention
CTOPP Phoneme Elision standard score
104
102
100
Phoneme
98
Rime
96
Control
94
92
Pre-test
Post-test
Results of Grade 1 Intervention
GRADE Listening Comprehension (Stanine)
6
5
4
Phoneme
3
Rime
2
Control
1
0
Pre-test
Post-test
Effects of Grade 1 Intervention
 Woodcock - Johnson Word Attack
111
110
109
108
Phoneme
107
Rime
106
Control
105
104
Pre-test
Post-test
Results of Grade 1 Intervention
 GRADE Reading Comprehension composite
93
92
91
90
89
88
87
86
85
84
Phoneme
Rime
Control
Post-test
Canada-wide initiatives
 A multi-site evaluation of ABRACADABRA:

The CSLP has been successful already in developing a PanCanadian team that stretches from the Maritimes to British
Columbia, with an unparalleled level of world-class expertise.
 Effectiveness of ABRACADABRA for children from
different language and cultural backgrounds (e.g. bi- and
multi-lingual backgrounds, children arriving in Canada
with little or no English
 We plan to have a French version of ABRA) language
skills, also urban / semi-urban / rural/ Gender Age/
experience.
Rob Savage, McGill University
and the CSLP team
An open invite: We welcome others to
use our tools and partner with us in
research and development.