Monday+April+25th



We are asking our Knowledgeable Others to define Main Idea and Topic. We are finding that the materials we have and the students cannot give a clear definition. We would like to hear what you have to say. Kip

Okay, I'll give this a try. Topic is the general idea being discussed by the author eg. how to write a good essay. The main idea would be the most important point regarding the topic that the author wants to get across eg. in order to write a good essay, you must create a structure first. Ivan

We agree, but our texts are very vague and at times mixing the topic and main idea. I have taught topic and main idea extensively through literature. When I asked the students just to give the definition, 10 students stated that the topic is the key idea, main idea, and the main idea is the topic, about the topic, or similar to the topic. There is confusion on the subject. What is everyone else finding? Kip

It might be because elementary school children have yet to fully develop abstracting capacities...Piaget's Formal Operations stage which really kicks in during middle school...so the children aren't able to bring the concepts of Topic and Main Idea to life on a mental level. See if making these concepts concrete helps them grasp or capture them. They need to be able to touch these concepts with their hands or see them visually to really understand how they sort out. Hope this helps. Ivan



My sentences: Stefanie L.