What is Content Analysis?

Content analysis is the breaking down, or structuring, the kind of learning experience the teacher expects students to know/perform.

Content analysis covers what is most important to know and also what skills are required to learn the content.

One way to do this in an organized fashion is through a subject matter outline.

There are five different types of content analysis; information processing analysis, concept analysis, task analysis, learning analysis, and activity analysis.

Information processing analysis is laid out through a subject matter outline. In concept analysis, the definition, key parts, and examples must be provided to students. The teacher should provide good AND bad examples to students. Task analysis is the skill required. Task analysis can be procedural or hierarchical.

Learning analysis examines the students prior skills and knowledge, as well as the best way the content can be learned. Finally, there is activity analysis. This examines how the information will be delivered. It should show how students will be engaged in the learning.

Why should you use content analysis?

For starters, it can help you classify information, and align that information with learning standards.

Second, it helps to decompose, or sequence, the information. You can identify the components, order of instruction, and select appropriate media, learning context,and methods of teaching.

How can you conduct a content analysis? There are a number of ways.

You can explore learning standards, whether they be state of national. You may interview colleagues. Talking to an experienced teacher can be extremely helpful, especially when you are just starting out in this profession.

You can also visit Internet sites to research your unit theme. You should be an expert on whatever you are teaching.

To show the importance of content analysis, and breaking down knowledge, a woman in my class asked us to tell her how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

While this sounds like a simple task, it involves a lot of steps, and that was the point she was trying to get across.

When we introduce a topic in our classes, we need to be able to break down all of the facts and present them in a logical order so that our students can complete a task.