Assessing Multimedia Influences on Student Responses Using a Personal Response System

To date, research to date on personal response systems (clickers) has focused on external issues pertaining to the implementation of this technology or broadly measured student learning gains rather than investigating differences in the responses themselves. Multimedia learning makes use of both words and pictures, and research from cognitive psychology suggests that using both words and illustrations improves student learning. This study analyzed student response data from 561 students taking an introductory earth science course to determine whether including an illustration in a clicker question resulted in a higher percentage of correct responses than questions that did not include a corresponding illustration. Questions on topics pertaining to the solid earth were categorized as illustrated questions if they contained a picture, or graph and text-only if the question only contained text. For each type of question, we calculated the percentage of correct responses for each student and compared the results to student ACT-reading, math, and science scores. A within-groups, repeated measures analysis of covariance with instructor as the covariate yielded no significant differences between the percentage of correct responses to either the text-only or the illustrated questions. Similar non-significant differences were obtained when students were grouped into quartiles according to their ACT-reading, -math, and -science scores. These results suggest that the way in which a conceptest question is written does not affect student responses and supports the claim that conceptest questions are a valid formative assessment tool.     

How can comprehension adjunct questions focus students' attention and enhance concept learning of a computer-animated science lesson?

Two focusing hypotheses were evaluated. First, do adjunct questions, focusing on science concepts and inserted after computer-animated sequences, selectively alter students' attentional or practice processing and thus produce differential learning effects? Theoretically, such questions selectively focus students' attention and enhance concept learning of focused concepts. Second, do these questions still provide enough metacognitive scaffolding to produce differential learning effects when only the first 8 out of 12 sequences are followed by focusing questions? Eighth-grade students (n = 160) were randomly assigned to a control group (lesson alone) or one of four treatment groups (lesson plus 12 questions focusing either on heat or on temperature, or lesson plus the same first 8 questions on heat or temperature followed by 4 placebo questions). Two significant two-way interactions with widely varying F ratios supported the differential focusing hypotheses (12 questions—more robust interaction, 8—less robust interaction).     

Analysis of Student–Instructor Interaction Patterns in Real-Time, Scientific Online Discourse

The characteristics of the online environment alter how students and instructors interact. Scientific discourse among students and instructors in an online text-only synchronous environment was analyzed. In converting dialogue to text, many of the nonverbal cues, such as facial expression and tone of voice, which instructors use to gauge student understanding are lost. The participants adapt their communication style to the medium, and we present a new interaction pattern for student–instructor communication found prevalent in the synchronous, text-only, online environment. This study has implications for instructors who use synchronous, text-based communication for their courses, namely the value of posing additional questions from the instructor to verify student understanding.     

NOTETAKING SKILLS INSTRUCTION FOR DEVELOPMENT OF MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS’ NOTETAKING PERFORMANCE

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of explicit instruction in notetaking skills on the notetaking performance of seventh‐grade students at different reading ability levels. The students in the notetaking instruction condition (NTI) received classroom‐based notetaking skills instruction (approximately 40 minutes) every week for 10 weeks. The comparison condition students (CNT) were asked to use conventional notetaking (CNT) that was embedded within the daily social studies lessons. The participants’ reading comprehension abilities were identified through the Sentence Verification Technique, which consisted of a 16‐item expository text. A notetaking performance test (NTPT) was used to assess the effect of notetaking skills instruction on two dimensions of the participants’ notes (verbatim copying and terse value). The results demonstrated that the terse value of students’ notes in the NTI condition was significantly better than that of the students in the CNT condition. The students in the NTI condition reduced their percentage of verbatim copying and used fewer words to cover more main concepts in the NTPT that followed the instructional intervention. Surprisingly, the students at low reading ability showed the greatest gains in notetaking performance from verbatim copying to terse notetaking.     

The role of paraphrased adjunct questions in facilitating learning from prose

Twenty-six college student read a 5000-word prose passage and answered either verbatim or paraphrased inserted questions while reading about international communication. Students either were or were not permitted to review the text while answering the inserted questions. On a subsequent post-test containing new paraphrases of the adjunct questions, students who received paraphrased adjunct questions outperformed students who received verbatim adjunct questions. This result supported the contention that paraphrased adjunct questions could facilitate meaningful learning from prose.     

Adjunct aids in instructional prose: a multimedia study with deaf college students

A computer-based science lesson was administered to 144 deaf college students grouped into low, middle, and high reading ability levels. Five instructional conditions were compared: (1) text only, (2) text and content movies, (3) text and sign movies, (4) text and adjunct questions, and (5) all of these together (full condition). The low reading level subjects in the adjunct question and full conditions demonstrated immediate, factual learning performance comparable to that of the high reading level subjects in the text-only condition. These and other results of this investigation suggest the compensatory potential of adjunct aids and associated mathemagenic activities to improve factual learning from instructional prose for low reading ability students.     

Overprompting science students using adjunct study questions

Overprompting students by providing them with strong hints to answers of questions can do learners more instructional harm than good. The selective attention model was used to explain the effects of overprompting students provided with study questions adjunct to a complex flow diagram describing scientific cyclical schema. Tenth-grade students were randomly assigned to an unprompted-question, no-question, prompted-question, and a placebo control group. Analysis showed that strongly prompting students to the answers of such questions was less effective than an unprompted question treatment, p < 0.05. The no-question treatment did not significantly outperform the prompted treatment. The information presented in the flow diagram was operationally related to comprehension study and posttest questions. The theoretical discussion and the present findings suggested that science teachers should use prompting techniques with extreme caution.     

Students' comprehension of science textbooks using a question‐based reading strategy

Despite the heavy reliance on textbooks in college courses, research indicates that college students enrolled in first‐year science courses are not proficient at comprehending informational text. The present study investigated a reading comprehension questioning strategy with origins in clinical research based in elaboration interrogation theory, which outlines how to encourage readers to recall relevant background knowledge while reading text materials. The theory suggests that the strategy increases the likelihood that readers will integrate what they read with what they know to make new knowledge. The setting for the study more closely resembled classroom conditions compared to similar studies in the past. Unlike previous studies on reading comprehension, students read a challenging passage from the textbook used in a science course in which they were enrolled. In addition, the text was longer than that used in clinical research. The college students (n = 294) in this study were randomly assigned to either a questioning strategy treatment or a rereading placebo‐control. While reading, treatment students were presented with statements taken from regular intervals in their textbook (about every 150 words) and asked a simple why question about each of these statements. Significant differences were found favoring elaborative interrogation theory and its question strategy treatment over the placebo‐control in terms of science comprehension even after significant estimated predictors of prior knowledge and verbal ability were statistically controlled or accounted for by removing the statistical contributions of these predictors to the main effects. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 363–379, 2010     

Computer-based multimedia testing: Effects of static and animated representational pictures and text modality

Static representational pictures (RPs) have been focused in research on the multimedia effect in testing and might be especially important in arithmetical word problems, which require a multi-stage mental processing to segment the task. To further highlight the task segments visually, dynamic visualizations could help. However, conventional animations might not apply to this context and the role of dynamic visualizations with temporal segmentations (i.e., animated RPs) is unexplored. This classroom experiment with 456 students investigated multimedia and modality effects in 24 mathematical word problems. Our 3 × 2 mixed design included three multimedia conditions (static RPs, animated RPs, and text-only) and two modality conditions (written text vs spoken text). We investigated effects on response correctness, metacognitive ratings, item-solving satisfaction and time on task. Both static and animated RPs increased response correctness, item-solving satisfaction, and metacognitive ratings compared to text-only. Time on task was affected in distinctive ways in both RP conditions and also varied depending on text modality. Spoken text barely increased response correctness in animated RP items but not at all in static RP items. Moderator analyses revealed that the effects of static and animated RPs on response correctness were dependent on the text modality but varied across school types and the level of mathematical prior knowledge. For students at non-academic-track schools or with low prior knowledge, static and animated RPs improved response correctness compared to text-only across both modalities. For students at academic-track schools or with high prior knowledge, mainly combinations of static or animated RPs with spoken text were effective.     

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.     

Students' expectations about the processing demandsof teacher-made tests

History teachers (N=22) and their 11th-grade students (N=451) rated the importanceof four types of questions (verbatim, paraphrase, inference and skill items) by indicating the degree to which these questions were to be expected in an upcoming teacher-made test about a particular textbook chapter. In addition, teachers classified their actual tests according to these four question types. Importance ratings of individual students showed a low correspondence with those of their teacher and no correspondence with the actual test questions (as classified by their teacher). However, teachers' importance ratings also showed a considerable number of discrepancies with the actual test questions. These findings suggest that in study-test situations, more clarity is needed about processing demands.     

Conditions for the Effectiveness of Multiple Visual Representations in Enhancing STEM Learning

Visual representations play a critical role in enhancing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning. Educational psychology research shows that adding visual representations to text can enhance students’ learning of content knowledge, compared to text-only. But should students learn with a single type of visual representation or with multiple different types of visual representations? This article addresses this question from the perspective of the representation dilemma, namely that students often learn content they do not yet understand from representations they do not yet understand. To benefit from visual representations, students therefore need representational competencies, that is, knowledge about how visual representations depict information about the content. This article reviews literature on representational competencies involved in students’ learning of content knowledge. Building on this review, this article analyzes how the number of visual representations affects the role these representational competencies play during students’ learning of content knowledge. To this end, the article compares two common scenarios: text plus a single type of visual representations (T+SV) and text plus multiple types of visual representations (T+MV). The comparison yields seven hypotheses that describe under which conditions T+MV scenarios are more effective than T+SV scenarios. Finally, the article reviews empirical evidence for each hypothesis and discusses open questions about the representation dilemma.     

快速阅读训练对小学生阅读效果影响的实验研究

本研究以小学五年级学生为被试,经过12周的快速阅读训练,使学生初步掌握快速阅读训练的技能,据此探索快速阅读训练和阅读方式(先看文章再回答问题、先看问题再读文章)对小学生阅读效果的影响。结果发现:第一,快速阅读训练可显著减少学生的总阅读时间、提高阅读速度,但不影响阅读理解率;第二,先看问题再读文章的阅读方式在主旨题目的理解率上有其独特优势;第三,阅读方式和快速阅读训练在学生阅读效果上不存在交互作用,即两者不存在相互影响的问题。     

Representational guidance and student engagement: examining designs for collaboration in online synchronous environments

In this paper we report the results of a study which investigated the affordances of multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) for collaborative learning from a design perspective. Utilizing a mixed methods approach, we conducted a comparative study of the effect of varying representational and interactional design features on a collaborative design activity in three online synchronous environments. We compared environments featuring multiple modes of interaction (MUVEs), shared representations (text chat and 2D still images) and text-only features. Sixty-one students enrolled in an undergraduate course on Child Development participated in the study. Participants were asked to design a theoretically-based, developmentally appropriate, preschool classroom setting. Students were randomly assigned to one of three online learning environments that provided varying levels of representation and interaction. Significant differences in collaborative problem solving interactions were found. Participants in the shared representations + text condition evidenced stronger learning outcomes as regards substantive discussion and integration of child development concepts; while participants in the MUVE condition reported the most enjoyment with the experience. These findings are explained by the concepts of representational guidance, representational bias, educational affordances and interface design metaphors. Suggestions for the design of MUVEs for collaborative learning are provided.     

The influence of instruction on verbatim and content text recall

This investigation focuses on text recall in eight‐ and nine‐year old children. The main focus was on whether two different sets of instructions had a differential influence: one set instructed students to focus on an orally presented text verbatim, and the other instructed students to focus on its content. A differential influence on verbatim and content recall might indicate separate storage of verbatim and gist information, and could provide evidence for two subprocesses of text processing – that is, for construction and integration. The instructions were administered either before or after hearing the text, and recall was tested again one week later. The results showed differential instruction effects on verbatim and content recall. These effects depended on the time of instruction. Verbatim instruction had an enhancing effect on verbatim recall, both when instructions were given before and when given after text presentation. Content instruction given after text presentation had a suppressing effect on verbatim recall, but involved no advantage for content recall. Content recall was not suppressed by verbatim instruction at any time of instruction. Thus, the processing of content seems to be less situated than the processing of verbatim information.     

How do people read the passages during a reading comprehension test? The effect of reading purpose on text processing behavior

In this study, we investigate the effect of reading purpose on students’ processing behavior during a reading comprehension test. In a repeated measures design, sixty undergraduates answered multiple-choice (MC) reading comprehension questions in a condition with no overarching goal for reading and in an alternate condition where the same students were first provided with the goal of summarizing the text before answering MC questions. Results from eye tracking analysis showed that when students read and answered questions without an overarching goal, they spent much less time reading the passages before answering the questions, more time re-reading the texts while answering the questions, and more time on parts of the text that were not necessary to answer the questions. We conclude that providing examinees without an explicit goal for reading may inadvertently encourage a “search for the answer” reading process, rather than on building a coherent mental model of text content.     

Writing to learn in science: Effects on Grade 4 students' understanding of balance

In this study, we randomly assigned 69 Grade 4 students to a writing-to-learn treatment (n = 23), comparison (n = 23), or no-treatment control (n = 23). Treatment and comparison students completed a science experiment involving balance. During the experiment, treatment students wrote four short responses and an extended response to document their learning. To control for writing time, comparison students wrote four short responses and an extended response about topics other than balance. On a 20-item balance knowledge posttest, control outperformed treatment (d = 0.89) and comparison (d = 1.05) on the lowest level balance questions (Level 1). At the highest level questions, Levels 3 and 4, treatment (ds = 1.42 and 0.94) and comparison (ds = 1.62 and 1.37) outperformed control. There were no significant differences in total words written or level of balance understanding on a posttest written response. The performance of individual responders to treatment is also discussed.     

“主问题”设计技巧初探

设计主问题是实现高效课堂的重要因素,可以从文章中的标题、关键词句、文章的结构等显性的资源入手,也可从课文主题、结构、语言等隐性资源以及课前导读、课后习题、名家评析等衍生资源入手设计主问题,引领学生深入细读文本,提升阅读能力。     

On inserting questions before or after segments of text

It has been concluded in all major reviews of adjunct question research that a group given questions after related text segments (postquestions) yields greater recall than a group given questions before related text segments (prequestions) or one not given any questions at all. However, closer examination of the earlier research and an analysis of recent research reveals that for certain types of verbatim questions and for certain high level questions, postquestions produce recall equivalent to or less than prequestions. Moreover, in many studies wherein postquestions exceed prequestions, the postquestion group equals the reading-only control group in recall of nonquestioned (incidental) material. Hence, despite frequent pronouncements to the contrary, no firm recommendation can be made regarding the optimal placement of adjunct questions in text material.