HZ researcher Hilde Kooiker will defend her dissertation, 'Discovering the World through Reading', on Friday, October 18.

Subjects such as history, geography, and science and technology rely on the reading skills of students in the upper grades of primary education. These subjects often focus on informational texts, which are more challenging for many students than narrative texts. To grasp such texts, vocabulary and background knowledge are important. It also helps if students understand how texts are structured and can recognize connections such as cause-effect, chronology, or problem-solving. This involves the structure of the text. Currently, Dutch primary education does not pay much attention to this. More attention would be beneficial, argues Hilde in her dissertation. She demonstrates how to integrate text structure education into science and technology subjects.

Hilde Kooiker is obtaining her Ph.D. at Utrecht University. She will defend her dissertation between 2:00 and 3:15 p.m., and the defense can also be followed online.