Dissertation
EFFECTS OF TEXT FORMAT, READER FACTORS AND COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES ON SCIENCE LEARNING AND CONCEPTUAL CHANGE.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2016
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/112001
Abstract
Although comprehension plays a crucial role in successful learning of scientific concepts from text, extant research has shown that science learning is often inhibited by misconceptions in learners’ prior knowledge, their lack of cognitive text processing skills, and the inherent complexities of scientific text. To successfully comprehend scientific text, learners must activate prior knowledge which often may be deficient, and use cognitive processing skills which they often lack. Researchers have suggested that students can be trained to use strategies that enhance text comprehension. Besides, texts can be structured to influence better text processing and comprehension. This dissertation is the report of two studies that examined the relationships between learner and learning variables that enhance our understanding of text-based science learning. Study I examines how restructuring scientific texts influences the cognitive processing skills that learners’ use while reading. Study II examines the effect of learners’ cognitive and metacognitive learning and study dispositions on comprehension strategies they adopt while reading scientific texts, and on the cognitive outcomes of text comprehension. Participants were freshmen enrolled into an Introductory Biology course. Data collection was based on students’ self-report, scores on concept inventories and students’ think aloud verbal protocols. The results of these studies showed that altering text structure significantly influenced cognitive processes that enhance text comprehension. The studies also indicate that the comprehension activities that learners engage in while reading was more significantly relevant to reading comprehension than the dispositional learner differences that participants brought to the learning situation. Implications of the findings for theory and the implementation of instructional interventions to enhance text comprehension are discussed.
Metrics
16 File views/ downloads
38 Record Views
Details
- Title
- EFFECTS OF TEXT FORMAT, READER FACTORS AND COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES ON SCIENCE LEARNING AND CONCEPTUAL CHANGE.
- Creators
- Nathaniel Hunsu
- Contributors
- Olusola O. Adesope (Advisor)Michael S. Trevisan (Committee Member)Andy R. Cavagnetto (Committee Member)Matthew T. McCrudden (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Department of Kinesiology and Educational Psychology
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 110
- Identifiers
- 99900581721101842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation