AI & the Science of Reading

Introducing TextModels, a new series of texts co-created with AI. These texts grew out of Dr. Elfrieda (Freddy) Hieberts work on the role of AI in teaching vocabulary, automaticity and background knowledge. To kick off the series, here are two texts for adolescent readers, inspired by water disaster stories like “The Seventh Man.” More will be added as we develop this new TextProject component.

The Last Year-Round Resident of Cedar Point

The Last Year-Round Resident of Cedar Point

Hurricanes, Typhoons and Cyclones: One Storm, Many Names

Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones: One Storm, Many Names

Video on Terminology, Texts, and Teachers in an AI World

Terminology, Texts and Teachers in an AI World

Dr. Elfrieda Hiebert delivered a keynote address during the Reading Hall of Fame Mentoring session organized by the Literacy Research Association on December 5, 2024.

The Science of word zones

The Science of Word Zones: How Big Data is Building Better Readers

Unlike the strict vocabulary limits of the past, scaffolded texts use language research to create rich learning opportunities. At their core is the organization of words into morphological families – groups that share the same root. This structure comes from analyzing large collections of texts to identify the word families that occur most often at different grade levels.