ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate bridging inferences and learning when students with low topic knowledge read multiple complementary biology texts. Using a think-aloud protocol, we assessed students’ (n = 74) cognitive processes while they read one text about principles of natural selection and three texts about examples of natural selection. After reading, participants completed a topic knowledge posttest. Nonparametric tests indicated that readers who had high and moderate scores on the posttest generated more bridges to the principles text than readers who had low scores on the posttest. The multiple regression analysis indicated that bridging inferences to the principles text were predictive of scores on the topic knowledge posttest. An exploratory case analysis highlighted the importance of text-based bridging inferences to principles for readers with the highest scores on the topic knowledge posttest. These findings suggest that starting a set of complementary texts with an overview principles text followed by more exemplar-based texts can support learning when readers with low initial topic knowledge make inferences between principles and examples during reading.

摘要

本研究的目的是调查当主题知识不足的学生阅读多篇互补的生物学课本时的衔接推理和学习。使用大声思考的协议，我们评估了学生的（n= 74) 当他们阅读一篇关于自然选择原理的文本和三篇关于自然选择示例的文本时的认知过程。阅读后，参与者完成了主题知识后测。非参数测试表明，在后测中获得高分和中等分的读者比在后测中获得低分的读者产生了更多通往原则文本的桥梁。多元回归分析表明，对原则文本的桥接推理可以预测主题知识后测的分数。探索性案例分析强调了基于文本的桥接推理对主题知识后测得分最高的读者原则的重要性。