Training in metacognition and comprehension of physics texts

Reading comprehension of physics texts is a neglected area in physics curricula. This paper describes the development, application, and evaluation of a metacognitive technique for improving student reading comprehension of physics texts. The metacognitive technique requires students to self-assess their reading comprehension and then to rank their abilities and disabilities hierarchically. The technique is evaluated by comparing performance on a reading-comprehension test of an experimental group with the performance of a control group before and after the experimental manipulation. Both groups underwent reading-comprehension exercises, using the Koch–Eckstein technique (Koch & Eckstein, 1995), with the metacognitive tasks added only to the experimental group. Results showed the posttest scores of the experimental group to be significantly higher than those of the control group. Based on these results, it is strongly recommended that the metacognitive technique be developed and applied in teaching reading comprehension of physics texts as an effective self-monitoring device. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sci Ed85:758–768, 2001.

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