In 1987, researchers Donna Recht and Lauren Leslie developed a study to determine how much reading comprehension depended on prior knowledge of a topic.
As the study was to be conducted on junior high students, they chose the topic of baseball under the assumption that the kids could potentially be familiar with the sport.
[1] Starting with 64 students, the participants were split into four groups based on their reading ability and prior knowledge of baseball.
[8] The study's findings were praised for revealing that readers with "sufficient background knowledge are able to comprehend and learn more easily because they have multiple ways to store information".
[9] The Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) lauded the study for increasing the connection between education and the community "while also dismantling stereotypes and bridging cultural divides".