Writing about historical significance: The effects of a reading-to-write instruction

In a randomized pretest–posttest design, we examined the effects of a reading-to-write instruction on (a) the quality of students’ essays and (b) on metaknowledge about reading, reasoning about historical significance, and writing. Results showed that 10th grade students in the reading-to-write condition (N = 46) wrote significantly better essays compared to students who received a content-based instruction (N = 48). In addition, students in the reading-to-write condition
scored significantly higher on metaknowledge about reading historical accounts than students in the content-based condition. Self-reports on learning gains indicated that students in the reading-to-write condition gained deeper understanding of historical knowledge than students in the content-based condition.