Inference Galaxy is a digital learning resource that teaches and assesses inference-making skills for K-2 students.
ELCII
Early Language Comprehension Individualized Instruction
What: Tier 1 Instruction
(Whole Class)
Who: Kindergarten
TeLCI
Technology-Based Early Language Comprehension Intervention
What: Tier 2 Intervention
(Struggling Students)
Who: Grades 1-2
Challenge
The cornerstone of elementary education is teaching young students to read. Teaching children to read is a multifaceted, complex process and should be based on the Science of Reading, therefore including a strong foundation in phonemic awareness, letter names and sounds, decoding, word identification, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
Research suggests that inference making is one of the unique significant predictors of reading comprehension, yet it is rarely present in early reading instruction in K-2.
Solution
Inference Galaxy is an innovative, evidence-based (teaching practices that are based on the best available scientific and tested theories), digital toolkit that aims to teach inference making in K-2 students. The overall goal of Inference Galaxy is to provide supplemental, high quality instruction with differentiated support by individual student needs.
Why inference making to teach reading?
An inference is information that is retrieved from memory or generated during reading to fill in information that is not in a text. Fluent readers do so almost intuitively, struggling readers do not.
Inference making is a foundational component of reading comprehension, which in turn serves as a prerequisite in the development of fluent readers. For this reason, inference instruction should begin as early as possible and in tandem with a strong focus on decoding skills.