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Ed. Magazine

Problem Solving

Computer and Mouse

illustration by angelina berardiProblem: For many students, understanding what they read isn't easy. Improving vocabulary is a huge help. Research study after research study has found that vocabulary is critical to a student's success and to closing the reading gap. Efforts to expand the words a student knows and understands must start early. However, commonly practiced techniques often used to teach and improve vocabulary, such as flashcards or rote memorization activities, often fail.

Solution: Four 2013 Ed School master's graduates think they may have found the answer: repeated exposure and meaningful context. Frank Freeman, Lauren Gould, and Emily Schu, realized this last fall in Innovation by Design, taught by Adjunct Lecturer David Dockterman, Ed.D.'88. The result? They created Propagate Vocabulary, a tool that allows learners, using a Google Chrome browser extension, to practice vocabulary in the context of what they are already reading digitally. "We personalize the vocabulary learning experience in ways that traditional classroom instruction and existing digital solutions do not," Freeman says. This is particularly helpful for teachers because "it allows them to differentiate their teaching," says Hannah Lesk, a fourth graduate who later joined the group. Students can interact with words, bookmark them, and continue to practice later. On the companion web-based dashboard, students can also play games with their words and track progress. This fall, the group will add the extension for other browsers and make the tool mobile-friendly.

Ed. Magazine

The magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education

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