Helping students acquire belief‐inconsistent and belief‐consistent science facts: Comparisons between individual and dyad study using elaborative interrogatin, self‐selected study and repetitious‐reading

Abstract

One hundred and eighty four grade 6 and 7 students processed 32 factual statements in one of two studies reported here. H a l f the statements were consistent with the students' prior knowledge, whereas the remaining facts were inconsistent with it. Students studied the facts alone, or with a partner, by: (1) answering 'why' questions;(2) reading the information for understanding; or (3) selecting their own method of study. Recall (free and cued) and recognition measures (mediate, 30-day, and 60-day) were used to assess learning (immediate, 30-day, and 60-day). Instructions to use elaborative interrogation produced superior learning gains relative to instructing students to read information for understanding or to select their own study strategy. Overall, there were no performance differences as a function of individual versus dyad study. The quality of the elaborative interrogation study response affected learning.When students generated or listened to a partner's response that clarified the target facts, learning of that information was superior to when students generated or listened to other types of study responses.

The effects of levels of elaboration on learners’ strategic processing of text

“…Woloshyn and colleagues (1994) investigated EI's durability in several delayed recognition sessions (14-day, 75-day, and 180-day) and found the learning gains to be durable in all sessions. Other studies confirmed these long-term effects (Kahl and Woloshyn 1994;Woloshyn and Stockley 1995). This study extends the research on elaborative interrogation by examining the benefits of these strategy prompts at a 1-week delay when learners engaged with long, course-related texts.…”

“…Several studies have measured the durability of the effectiveness of EI; however, those studies have concentrated primarily on recognition measures such as matching tasks (Kahl and Woloshyn 1994;Willoughby et al 1993), selection of true statements Woloshyn and Stockley 1995), and rating confidence of correct answers (Woloshyn and Stockley 1995). Further, texts used in all of the prior EI durability investigations presented to-be-learned sentences with corresponding elaborative interrogation prompts with each sentence.…”

“…Specifically with respect to EI, much of the previous work has not related EI to complex learning (Ozgungor and Guthrie 2004) nor employed transfer-appropriate outcomes that measure higher-order learning. For example, previous EI investigations have assessed cued recall (e.g., Pressley et al 1987Pressley et al , 1988Woloshyn et al 1990Woloshyn et al , 1992Wood et al 1990) associative matching (e.g., Martin and Pressley 1991;Woloshyn et al 1990), free recall (e.g., Dornisch and Sperling 2004;Martin and Pressley 1991;Woloshyn et al 1990;Woloshyn and Stockley 1995), true or false recognition (e.g., Greene et al 1996;Woloshyn et al 1994;Woloshyn and Stockley 1995), and multiple-choice recognition (e.g., Sperling 2004, 2006). Even in studies that employ slightly longer texts, learner outcomes have primarily focused on definitions of target concepts, specific examples used in the text, and main ideas of paragraphs (Boudreau et al 1999;Hamilton 1997, Seiffert 1993.…”

Facilitating Learning From Technology-Enhanced Text: Effects of Prompted Elaborative Interrogation

“…The strategy has been useful and robust in a multitude of settings. The success of EI prompted researchers to test the strategy with various expository materials, including texts about animals (Willoughby, Waller, Wood, & Mac-Kinnon, 1993;Wood, Pressley, & Winne, 1990), gender differences (Pressley, Symons, McDaniel, Snyder, & Turnure, 1988), Canadian provinces (Martin & Pressley, 1991;Symons & Greene, 1993), West German states (Woloshyn, Pressley, & Schneider, 1992), general science facts (Woloshyn, Paivio, & Pressley, 1994;Woloshyn & Stockley, 1995), Canadian universities (Woloshyn, Willoughby, Wood, & Pressley, 1990), and the human circulatory system (O'Reilly, Symons, & MacLatchy-Gaudet, 1998). Researchers found greater retention with EI strategies in young learners , adolescents (Wood, Willoughby, Kaspar, & Idel, 1994), and adults (Pressley et al, 1988), regardless of presentation formats such as isolated facts (Pressley et al, 1988), sequential facts (Willoughby et al, 1993), paragraphs versus isolated facts (Woloshyn, Willoughby, Wood, & Pressley, 1990), and paragraphs (Seiffert, 1993).…”

Concept Mapping Assessment of Media Assisted Learning in Interdisciplinary Science Education

“…Compared to regular conventional courses, Hawkins and Daly (1988) found a stronger involvement of learners in cooperative computer-assisted learning environments. Woloshyn and Stockley (1995) pointed to the high potential of dyadic learning settings, bringing students towards a higher achievement level. A meta-analysis based on 122 studies showed cooperative learning settings to be more efficient than individual learning (Lou et al 2001).…”