Literature Review of Studies Focused on Vocabulary Development Research Paper

Literature Review of Studies Focused on Vocabulary Development Strategies and Interventions for Grades 9-12 - Research Paper Example There are strategies ideal only for children and there are those applicable only for grownups. In teaching Grades 9-12, teachers will find issues relating mostly to comprehension and vocabulary. This paper reviews three articles that investigated effective reading strategies for improving vocabulary of Grade 9-12 students. One article worthy of attention was written by Douglas Fisher (2007). In this paper, Fisher reports the five-part program that the teachers and administrators of Hoover High School developed and implemented in order to improve the vocabulary performance of students in state-administered tests. According to Fisher (2007), Hoover High School was a low-performing school with a population of 2,300 students at the time of study, all qualifying for free breakfast and lunch and 76% speak a different language apart from English. To improve vocabulary at the school level, the school implemented vocabulary routines and instruction. The first component of the program was wide reading. This component consisted silent sustained reading (SSR) and independent reading for content area subjects. The school identified and purchased appropriate reading materials, among these were historical accounts of WWII. In addition to these resources, the school assigned teachers who could provide relevant information to students regarding the materials they read. The students devoted 20 minutes per day to SSR and just read any material they wanted. This method was not enough, thus additional time was provided during content area instruction for independent reading. The second component of the program was reading aloud. This strategy is very common for beginning readers. Nevertheless, Hoover High School used it because of its tested effectiveness to learn content and vocabulary. In this method, the teacher read aloud a passage for 3-5 minutes at every class. Again, the school had to purchase materials specially designed for the procedure, including Richardson’s (200 0) â€Å"Read It Aloud! Using Literature in the Secondary Content Classroom,† Trelease’s (1993) â€Å"Read All About It! Great Read-Aloud Stories, Poems, and Newspaper Pieces for Preteens and Teens.† These materials, along with other interesting books, were purchased using the school’s site book funds. School administrators conducted observation of read aloud sessions. Consequently, to enhance interest of teachers in implementing read aloud sessions, professional development funds were also utilized to pay teachers to observe other teachers during read alouds. The third component composed of content vocabulary instruction. This was the usual vocabulary instruction in which teachers used graphic organizers, semantic maps, tables, etc. One issue that aroused teachers’ attention on this component was deciding on what vocabulary words to teach. To address the problem, several questions were raised to qualify the words, such as â€Å"Will the word be u sed in other subject areas? Will the word be used again during the school year?† This kind of questions served as guide to teaching specific vocabulary words. The fourth component was academic vocabulary development. For this component, the school team consulted Coxhead’s (2000) â€Å"Academic Word List† and Marzano and Pickering’s (2005) â€Å"ELL Students and Academic Vocabulary† and came up with 570 academic words to teach their students. The last component was called the â€Å"

An Enzyme Controlled Reaction-Catalase Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

An Enzyme Controlled Reaction-Catalase - Essay Example l. Compute the rate of O2 production (cm3/s). m. Plot a graph of concentration of hydrogen peroxide against rate of oxygen production. 5.0 Safety Measures Hydrogen peroxide in high concentrations (18-28 vol.) is irritating to the eye and the skin. The contaminants can cause decomposition leading to explosion after a while. Pressure can build up if reaction containers are blocked. 6.0 Results This experiment has 1 independent variable, 1 dependent variable and 1 control variable. The independent variable is the various concentrations of hydrogen peroxide, while the dependent variable is the rate of reaction in terms of oxygen production. The control variable is the temperature of the room and standard pressure. Table 1 shows the average results of the oxygen produced in different concentrations of hydrogen peroxide. Percentage of Hydrogen peroxide Average volume of oxygen collected (cm3) over time (seconds) 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 100 48.3 68.7 78.3 82.0 85.0 86.7 87.0 87.3 87.7 88.3 88.3 88.3 90 37.3 55.0 63.7 68.3 71.0 72.3 73.0 73.3 73.3 73.3 73.3 73.3 80 32.3 47.3 54.0 59.0 61.3 63.0 63.3 63.7 63.7 63.7 63.7 63.7 70 26.3 40.0 45.7 48.3 49.0 49.3 49.3 49.3 49.3 49.3 49.3 49.3 60 20.7 31.7 36.7 40.0 42.7 44.0 44.7 44.7 44.7 44.7 44.7 44.7 50 16.3 27.0 31.0 33.3 35.3 36.3 37.0 37.0 37.0 37.0 37.0 37.0 Table 1: Average volume of oxygen collected Figure 2: reaction at 100% concentration of hydrogen peroxide Figure 3: reaction at 80% concentration of hydrogen peroxide Figure 3: reaction at 50% concentration of hydrogen peroxide 7.0 Discussion To ensure that the process of measuring was accurate, I ensured the room temperature remained constant and the equipment remained in the same conditions for all the tests. In some tests, the level of concentration... To ensure that the process of measuring was accurate, I ensured the room temperature remained constant and the equipment remained in the same conditions for all the tests. In some tests, the level of concentration of hydrogen peroxide was not very accurate due to some technical hitches, but the level of inaccuracy was not substantial enough to affect the findings and conclusion of the experiment. From the results, it appears that less oxygen was produced within the first 5 seconds because the concentration was low. This is because, at higher concentrations of hydrogen peroxide, there are more molecules of hydrogen peroxide leading to more collisions that stimulates more enzyme-substrate to be formed – as the concentration decreased, this collision decelerated as evidenced by the graphs (Chelikani, Fita & Loewen, 2004). These results are exactly as it was expected. Catalase functions as catalyses in most living organisms, by decomposing hydrogen peroxide into oxygen and water, as shown in the equation below.2H2O2 + Catalase  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2H2O + O2  Catalase significantly trims down the activation power required for the reaction. In absence of catalase, the breakdown would take a longer time to occur, and would not be able to support life. Since Hydrogen peroxide is a very potent by-product of metabolism, if not decomposed very fast it can cause damage to body cells.