Dynamics of Mental Model Construction From Text and Graphics

• In Event: Learning From Text Experiences

Abstract

Reading for learning requires frequently integrating text and graphics information into coherent knowledge structures. To investigate to what extent students at different age and from different school types have acquired competencies for integrating text and graphics, a representative sample of integration tasks was selected from schoolbooks and used for the construction of items. A sub-sample from these tasks was used to analyze cognitive processing through eye tracking methodology. The results indicate that text and graphics play fundamentally different roles in initial mental model construction and in mental model updates. Students at lower levels of schooling seem to lack strategies of using graphics for answering the items, which becomes especially obvious when items are more difficult.

Authors

• Wolfgang Schnotz, University of Koblenz-Landau

• Ulrike Hochpoechler, University of Koblenz-Landau

• Thorsten Rasch, University of Koblenz-Landau

• Mark Ullrich, University of Koblenz-Landau

• Holger Horz, University of Koblenz-Landau

• Nele McElvany, TU Dortmund University

• Juergen Baumert, Max Planck Institute for Human Development