Refutational Texts Help Learners to Correct Misconceptions in Which They Had High Confidence

• In Event: The Influences of the Reader, Text, and Task on Learning

Abstract

Inaccurate prior knowledge can be hard to correct, especially when learners are confident that their prior knowledge is accurate when it is not. We investigated effects of text format (refutation vs. traditional text) and confidence in inaccurate prior knowledge on learners’ correction of common misconceptions. Findings show that text format affected correction of misconceptions, learners more often corrected misconceptions after reading texts containing refutation statements than after reading traditional texts. The misconceptions that were held with a high level of confidence were less often corrected than misconceptions for which learners had lower confidence. If learners have high initial confidence in the accuracy of their misconceptions, reading refutation texts supported them more to correct their inaccurate prior knowledge.

Authors

• Mariette H Van Loon, Maastricht University

• John Dunlosky, Kent State University

• Tamara Van Gog, Erasmus University

• Jeroen J.G. Van Merrienboer, Maastricht University

• Anique De Bruin, Erasmus University