Science of Reading and Learning Science
Understanding how children learn changes everything. The Science of Reading and broader learning science give us a research-based picture of how the brain develops, how children acquire skills, why some students struggle, and what instructional approaches make the biggest difference. Explore our articles to dig into the evidence.
What’s Already in Their Heads: Why Background Knowledge Is the Hidden Engine of Reading Comprehension
No text is self-contained. Every one assumes the reader will supply context the author never wrote. A passage about a courtroom doesn't explain what a judge does; a paragraph about photosynthesis assumes the reader knows what a plant needs to survive. When that background knowledge is missing, even a fluent decoder hits invisible walls on every page, and no amount of strategy instruction can substitute for what simply isn't there.