Refutation Text and Graphics: Effects on Conceptual Change Learning

• In Event: Cognitive Processes in Reading Comprehension

Abstract

This study extends current research on the refutation text effect by examining the interactions between refutation text and graphics. Like refutation verbal material, refutation graphics are designed to activate a misconception, refute it, and present the correct conception. Seventy-eight high schoolers were randomly assigned to four conditions differing for type of text and graphic (standard vs. refutation) in a pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest design.
Findings revealed that a refutation text is more powerful than a refutation graphic, and the former can be sufficient to maintain the learning effect over time. Moreover, readers of the refutation text with standard graphic showed greater metacognitive awareness of the conflict between their conception and the scientific conception than readers in the control condition.

Authors

• Lucia Mason, University of Padova

• Roberta Baldi, University of Padova

• Robert William Danielson, University of Southern California

• Gale M. Sinatra, University of Southern California