The Role of Text and Reader Characteristics in Science Learning from Refutational Texts

• In Event: Learning From Text Experiences

Abstract

Two experiments examined learning from scientific texts that did or did not contain a refutation to a misconception, and how such learning interacted with prior knowledge. Experiment 1 examined the role of co-activation of both inaccurate and accurate conceptions during learning. Although there was no advantage in learning from a refutational contrast text versus a paraphrased text (accurate conception twice), readers with consistent learned better than readers with fragmented pre-reading misconception profiles. In Experiment 2, refutational texts included the contrast and explicit evaluations marking each conception’s accuracy. Refutational learned better than paraphrase readers, regardless of their initial misconception profile. The findings provide initial validation that co-activation and evaluation processes are both important for knowledge revision from refutational texts.

Authors

• Jason Lawrence Braasch, University of Memphis

• Susan R. Goldman, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Jennifer Wiley, University of Illinois at Chicago