Phrase Reading Training and Reading Achievement

This study examined the independent and interactive effects of supplement format (knowledge map vs. text vs. no supplement) and strategy (cooperative learning vs. cooperative teaching vs. individual study) on learning. After training and practice sessions, subjects studied a science and math passage over which they were tested. Two individual difference measures were also taken and combined into a general ability score. Repeated-measures analysis of variance of the recall variables indicated that (a) high ability subjects outperformed low ability subjects, and (b) cooperative learning with map supplements had a mutually facilitative effect on the low ability subjects’ recall.     

Prompted Journal Writing Supports Preservice History Teachers in Drawing on Multiple Knowledge Domains for Designing Learning Tasks

Becoming a history teacher requires the integration of pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and content knowledge. Because the integration of knowledge from different disciplines is a complex task, we investigated prompted learning journals as a method to support teacher students’ knowledge integration. Fifty-two preservice history teachers participated in the experimental study. They read a text about a historical event, a text about teaching history, and a text about cognitive learning processes. Then they wrote a learning journal entry about the three texts. To support the journal writing, the participants in the experimental condition received four integration prompts, whereas the participants in the control condition received no prompts. In the prompted condition, the students engaged more often in integration strategies at the cost of rehearsal and organization strategies. Rehearsal and integration strategies predicted students’ recall of knowledge and their ability to evaluate learning tasks. Integration strategies as elicited in the journals predicted preservice teachers’ performance when designing a learning task for history education. In solving this task, the prompted preservice teachers used the information from the three texts in a more balanced way than the unprompted students who strongly focused on content knowledge. The study illustrates the potentials of learning journals as a method to support knowledge integration in history teacher education.     

Null Effects of Perceptual Disfluency on Learning Outcomes in a Text-Based Educational Context: a Meta-analysis

Recent research in a text-based educational context has demonstrated a seemingly paradoxical disfluency effect in reading, namely that learning with hard-to-read (disfluent) materials helps learners recall more details than learning with easy-to-read (fluent) materials. Many follow-up studies using a variety of participants, learning materials, and experimental designs have been conducted to verify the effects of disfluency manipulation on recall, transfer, judgments of learning, and learning time. However, a number of them have failed to replicate this effect and the mixed findings bring into question the generality of the disfluency effect with respect to learning. In this meta-analysis, we tested the overall effect of perceptual disfluency on learning with texts, as well as moderators of this effect, based on 25 empirical articles involving 3135 participants. Results showed that overall, there was no effect of perceptual disfluency on recall (d?=???0.01) or transfer (d?=?0.03), but perceptual disfluency did reduce participants’ judgments of learning (d?=???0.43) and increase learning time (d?=?0.52). Tests of moderation focused on the most commonly studied dependent measure, namely recall. There was no evidence that characteristics of the participants, learning material, or experimental design moderated the effect of perceptual disfluency on recall. In general, though perceptual disfluency can be used as an effective metacognitive cue to reduce judgments of learning and increase learning time, there is not enough evidence to show that it either stimulates analytic processing or increases extraneous cognitive load.     

基于知识建模图的教材知识内容分析理路与应用价值

教材的主要职能在于传递知识,知识内容是教材的核心。因此,想要深入分析教材存在的深层次问题需从微观的知识内容层面入手。现有采用统计关键词频次的内容分析,无法解释教材的知识内容结构及各部分内容之间的联系等问题,而采用语义图性质的概念图又难以保证教材分析结果的客观性。可见,如何客观地可视化表征教材知识内容是从知识层面分析教材的关键。知识建模图是严格按照操作规范绘制而成的,包含教学内容知识点及其关系的知识结构隶属图,不同的绘制者针对相同内容所绘制的知识建模图具高度一致性,其可作为分析教材内容的客观工具和基础数据。因此,基于知识建模图为数据基础,提出了分析教材知识内容新理路,即分析教材的目标定位准确性、知识点类型分布、知识建模图形态结构、目标知识点与先决知识点的紧密性、例题与习题知识点的一致性等方面的特征,可准确揭示教材定位是否适切、教材内容能否达成课程目标、组织方式是否恰当、内容编排能否促进目标知识点的学习、事实范例的选择是否有助于知识点的迁移与能力的提升等问题。基于知识建模图的教材知识内容分析理路,可成为今后教材分析的一种新思路,对有理有据地分析、优化教材的组织结构和内容体系,具有积极意义。此外,采用该理路分析教材,还利于学科知识建模图的积累,并且这些学科知识建模图可广泛应用于教学资源聚合、校本课程优化、教育数据处理、个性化学习推荐和教师教学增效等方面。这对加快智能教育从感知智能向认知智能的转变与演进,具有一定的促进作用。     

An evaluation of two approaches for teaching reading comprehension strategies in the primary years using science information texts

There are few research studies on the effects of teaching comprehension strategies to young children in the primary grades. Using a Dominant–Less Dominant Mixed Model design employing both qualitative and quantitative data collection, we evaluated two approaches for teaching comprehension strategies to 7- and 8-year-old children in four second-grade classrooms using science information texts. The first approach focused upon explicitly teaching a series of single comprehension strategies, one-at-a-time (SSI). The second approach focused on teaching a “set” or “family” of transacted comprehension strategies within a collaborative, interactive and engaging routine (TSI). Results showed no difference between teaching young children a “set” of comprehension strategies and teaching comprehension strategies explicitly, one-at-a-time on their reading comprehension performance as measured by a standardized test of reading comprehension, recall of main ideas from reading two 200 word passages from information texts, a reading motivation survey and a strategy use survey. Results showed significant differences between students taught a set of comprehension strategies on measures of elaborated knowledge acquisition from reading science books (detail idea units recalled), retention of science content knowledge, and significantly improved criterion or curriculum-based reading comprehension test scores. These benefits favoring TSI over SSI are important because the learning curve is relatively steep for teachers to develop the ability to teach and for young children to develop the ability to coordinate a “set” of transacted comprehension strategies.     

The effects of test expectations based upon goals on the free recall of learning from text

The number of facts college students correctly recalled was not affected by whether they were provided goals which did or did not encourage them to reorganize the passage material they studied. This held both for learners asked to recall all facts they could and those asked to recall only a portion of the goal-targeted facts. Learners whose recall exhibited reorganization of passage material did not differ in number of correctly recalled facts from those who failed to reorganize the passage material. Learners were more apt to reorganize the text materials when asked to recall only a portion of the goal-targeted facts than when asked to recall all facts they could. Self-report data suggest learners primarily use goals to rehearse the targeted material only after they carefully read a study passage.     

中小学英语教材编写的若干问题探讨

英语教材是英语课程实施的重要组成部分,是教学的重要内容和手段。结合我国中小学英语教学实践,英语教材的选材应该具有代表性、真实性和人文性;要正确把握学得和习得的关系;恰当安排语言知识;要提高学生的自主学习能力并促进教师的专业发展。     

高职模具专业英语教学方法的探索与实践

为了培养学生的模具专业英语的阅读和翻译能力,文章从专业英语课程中词汇的学习、课文的精读和阅读材料的泛读等方面给出了详实的可行性建议,提出了该课程的教学应结合基础英语、专业知识、翻译的语言组织和表达能力等的培养和训练的看法,改善了教学效果。     

The interaction between textual structures and prior knowledge: Hypotheses, data and simulations

Our purpose was to compare the effect of two types of textual semantic coherence — causal and teleological — on the organization of the mental representation elaborated after reading by learners with different levels of prior knowledge. Beginners, Intermediates and Advanced in computer domain read either the causal or the teleological version of a text describing three functions of a text editor, then performed a cued recall and a recognition task. We assumed that Advanced learners build a mental representation of the domain organized in a hierarchical goal/sub-goals structure, whereas Beginners and Intermediates have a mental representation organized in a causal path. If this is so, the results should indicate a significant interaction between prior knowledge and the semantic coherence of the texts: for the Advanced learners, recall and recognition of the teleological text should be better, whereas for the Beginners and Intermediates, the reverse was expected. As we assumed, results indicated that a teleological organization of textual information facilitated the comprehension of Advanced participants while a temporal-causal organization facilitated the comprehension of Beginner and Intermediate participants. The Construction-Integration model of Kintsch (1988, 1998) was used to, simulate the recall results and to reproduce the effect of prior knowledge on the retrieval of textual information.     

Computerized Presentation of Text: Effects on Children’s Reading of Informational Material

This study examined whether children’s reading rate, comprehension, and recall are affected by computer presentation of text. Participants were 60 grade five students, who each read two expository texts, one in a traditional print format and the other from a computer monitor, which used a common scrolling text interface. After reading each text, participants were asked to recall as much as they could from what they had read and then answered questions that measured text recall and comprehension. Children took more time to read the passage and recalled more of the text material that they had read from the computer monitor. The benefit of computer presentation disappeared when efficiency variables, which take time into account, were examined. Children were, however, more efficient at comprehending text when reading from paper. The results suggest that children may take more time to read text on computer screens and that they are more efficient when reading text on paper.     

初中文言文教学技巧刍探

文言文是语文教学的重要组成部分,具备一定的文言文知识与翻译理解能力是学生语文学科核心素养的基本体现。教师在文言文教学中要深入解读教材,增强文本感知;借助情境导入,激发学习兴趣;通过合作学习,提升解读能力;及时归纳总结,构建知识体系;设置教学评价,提高教学效果。     

Conceptual coherence,comprehension, and vocabulary acquisition: A knowledge effect?

Previous research has documented the role of readers’ existing topic knowledge in supporting students’ comprehension of text; yet, we know less about how to build students’ knowledge in order to support comprehension and vocabulary learning. In the current study, we test the hypothesis that knowledge can be built and leveraged simultaneously in the interest of students’ literacy development through the use of conceptually coherent text sets. Fourth grade students (N = 59) were randomly assigned to read either a set of six informational texts that cohered around a set of concepts related to the topic birds (CC texts) or a set of texts that addressed a range of topics (NCC group texts). After reading, we assessed students’: (1) knowledge of the concepts in the conceptually coherent text set, (2) knowledge of target concept-related words that appeared in their respective text sets, (3) knowledge of general academic words that appeared in both texts sets, (4) comprehension of a novel text on a related topic, and (5) interest in the topic of the conceptually coherent texts. Results revealed that students who read the conceptually coherent texts demonstrated more knowledge of the concepts in their texts, more knowledge of the target words in their texts, and had better recall of the novel text compared to students who read unrelated texts. Findings suggest that there is potential for knowledge and vocabulary to be built during English language arts through a focus on conceptual coherence in the design of reading experiences for students.     

谈《新起点大学基础英语教程》的特色

《新起点大学基础英语教程》将基础知识学习、实用技能训练和文化背景介绍有机地融为一体,力求使英语学习做到学用结合、学以致用、学后会用。并针对学生实际水平和需要,寻求教与学之间的平衡。教材一方面内容新颖,富有时代气息,融知识性、趣味性和思想性于一体。另一方面文章长短适宜,简洁易懂,适合背诵,教材的编写合乎学习规律,适应和符合学习者的认知心理过程和特点,循序渐进。考虑到外语学习的语言环境,文化因素,在配套教材上及每个系列内部都有较好的完整性,在内容、目标、要求等方面,每含单元都对应地体现了知识和技能培养的系统性。     

合作性学习(模式)在组织行为学教学中的应用

构造合作学习情景,给学生营造一个相互依赖、相互关心、相互学习的学习环境,使学生在学习知识的同时也学习社交技巧和团队工作技巧,对提高学生解决问题和自主学习的能力起重要作用。本文阐述了合作性学习在《组织行为学》课程教学中的应用,并提出进一步完善这一教学模式的建议。     

Examining the influences of epistemic beliefs and knowledge representations on cognitive processing and conceptual change when learning physics

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of epistemic beliefs and knowledge representations in cognitive and metacognitive processing when learning about physics concepts through text. Specifically, we manipulated the representation of physics concepts in texts about Newtonian mechanics and explored how these texts interacted with individuals’ epistemic beliefs to facilitate or constrain learning. Results revealed that when individuals’ epistemic beliefs were consistent with the knowledge representations in their assigned texts, they performed better on various measures of learning (use of processing strategies, text recall, and changes in misconceptions) than when their epistemic beliefs were inconsistent with the knowledge representations. These results have implications for how researchers conceptualize epistemic beliefs and support contemporary views regarding the context sensitivity of individuals’ epistemic beliefs.     

Using the Jigsaw Method to Teach Abdominal Anatomy

This study evaluates a cooperative learning approach for teaching anatomy to health science students incorporating small group and peer instruction based on the jigsaw method first described in the 1970's. Fifty-three volunteers participated in abdominal anatomy workshops. Students were given time to become an “expert” in one of four segments of the topic (sub-topics) by allocating groups to work-stations with learning resources: axial computerized tomography (CT) of abdominal structures, axial CT of abdominal blood vessels, angiograms and venograms of abdominal blood vessels and structures located within abdominal quadrants. In the second part of workshop, students were redistributed into “jigsaw” learning groups with at least one “expert” at each workstation. The “jigsaw” learning groups then circulated between workstations learning all sub-topics with the “expert” teaching others in their group. To assess abdominal anatomy knowledge, students completed a quiz pre- and post- workshop. Students increased their knowledge with significant improvements in quiz scores irrespective of prior exposure to lectures or practical classes related to the workshop topic. The evidence for long-term retention of knowledge, assessed by comparing end-semester examination performance of workshop participants with workshop nonparticipants, was less convincing. Workshop participants rated the jigsaw workshop highly for both educational value and enjoyment and felt the teaching approach would improve their course performance. The jigsaw method improved anatomy knowledge in the short-term by engaging students in group work and peer-led learning, with minimal supervision required. Reported outcomes suggest that cooperative learning approaches can lead to gains in student performance and motivation to learn. Anat Sci Educ 00: 000–000. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists.     

Analyzing learning at work: an interdisciplinary framework

Experience in the workplace represents a significant domain for the analysis of learning. Based on many years of research on high-school and college interns, the article proposes a set of interdisciplinary ideas and strategies for conducting such an analysis. The core argument is that learning is the construction, enhancement or reorganization of knowledge and knowledge-use in an activity system, and that it happens through an interactional process involving participants, their joint actions and their material and informational resources. Understanding learning as a situated process requires an investigation of the way activities are established, accomplished, and processed, and of the social, cultural, political, and technological factors that shape them. The analyst must examine the ways knowledge is defined, distributed and used in the setting; learning, or the ways that knowledge-use changes over time; and pedagogy, or the social organization of the process by which learning is made possible.     

论小学英语阅读教学中的兴趣培养

阅读不仅使英语学习者增长知识、提高兴趣,而且也会提高其想像、概括、归纳综合、逻辑推理、理解记忆等方面的综合能力。阅读的重要性可见一斑。新课程标准对英语阅读教学提出了更高的要求。文章列举了阅读教学中“内容导入”、“材料编写”、“练习设计”环节中存在的问题,用实际的教学经验提出了积极的建议,旨在通过重视学生特点、关注教学环节,借助用多种方式和不同途径激起学生的阅读兴趣,提高课堂实效。