Reciprocal Teaching Strategy Worksheet

Reciprocal Teaching Strategy

This worksheet will help you practice the four key strategies of Reciprocal Teaching: Summarizing, Questioning, Clarifying, and Predicting. Read the passage below and then complete the activities.

The following passage explores the concept of 'cognitive dissonance' in psychology. Cognitive dissonance is a psychological phenomenon in which a person experiences psychological distress due to conflicting beliefs, ideas, or values. This discomfort is typically triggered by a situation in which a person's belief clashes with new evidence perceived by the person. When confronted with facts that contradict personal beliefs, people will often engage in a process of rationalization, seeking to explain away the discrepancy rather than altering their original belief. This can be seen in various contexts, from political affiliations where individuals disregard evidence contrary to their party's stance, to consumer behavior where buyers justify expensive purchases even if they later doubt their necessity. The intensity of the dissonance often depends on the importance of the beliefs involved and the degree of discrepancy between them.

1. As the Summarizer, condense the main idea of the passage into 2-3 sentences.

2. As the Questioner, formulate two higher-order questions about the passage that would encourage deeper thinking or discussion.

3. As the Clarifier, identify at least one potentially confusing word, phrase, or concept from the passage and explain how you would clarify it for a peer.

4. As the Predictor, based on the information presented, what do you think the next paragraph or section of this text might discuss?

5. Cognitive dissonance always leads to a change in one's original beliefs.

6. Which of the following is NOT typically a response to cognitive dissonance according to the passage?

7. The psychological phenomenon of cognitive dissonance occurs when a person experiences distress due to   beliefs.

8. The intensity of cognitive dissonance depends on the importance of the beliefs and the degree of   between them.