Learning from physics text: A synthesis of recent research

Learning from physics text is described as a complex interaction of learner, text, and context variables. As a multidimensional procedure, text processing in the domain of physics relies on readers' knowledge and interest, and on readers' ability to monitor or regulate their processing. Certain textual features intended to assist readers in understanding and remembering physics content may actually work to the detriment of those very processes. Inclusion of seductive details and the incorporation of analogies may misdirect readers' attention or may increase processing demands, particularly in those cases when readers' physics knowledge is low. The questioning behaviors of teachers also impact on the task of comprehending physics texts. Finally, within the context of the classroom, the information that teachers dispense or the materials they employ can significantly influence the process of learning from physics text.

[1]  William C. Kyle,et al.  Textbook use and the biology education desired state , 1992 .

[2]  Gerald G. Duffy.  The Relationship between Explicit Verbal Explanations during Reading Skill Instruction and Student Awareness and Achievement: A Study of Reading Teacher Effects. , 1986 .

[3]  Patricia A. Alexander,et al.  IMPLICIT INSTRUCTION OF STRATEGIES FOR LEARNING FROM TEXT , 1988 .

[4]  C. S. White,et al.  Effects of 'Seductive Details' on Macroprocessing and Microprocessing in Adults and Children , 1989 .

[5]  Suzanne Hidi,et al.  Interest and Its Contribution as a Mental Resource for Learning , 1990 .

[6]  Metaphor and the free recall of technical text , 1987 .

[7]  Richard C. Anderson,et al.  Frameworks for Comprehending Discourse , 1977 .

[8]  Gregory Schraw,et al.  An analysis of spontaneous study strategies. , 1990 .

[9]  Michael E. Martinez.  Interest enhancements to science experiments: Interactions with student gender , 1992 .

[10]  Barbara Y. White,et al.  Designing Computer Games to Help Physics Students Understand Newton's Laws of Motion , 1984 .

[11]  Suzanne Hidi,et al.  Strategies for increasing text-based interest and students' recall of expository texts. , 1988 .

[12]  J. Dewey,et al.  Interest and Effort in Education , 1975 .

[13]  David N. Perkins,et al.  Patterns of Misunderstanding: An Integrative Model for Science, Math, and Programming , 1988 .

[14]  H. Krist,et al.  Intuitive physics in action and judgment: the development of knowledge about projectile motion , 1993 .

[15]  P. Alexander,et al.  Domain Knowledge and Analogic Reasoning Ability as Predictors of Expository Text Comprehension , 1991 .

[16]  Ruth Garner,et al.  When Children and Adults Do Not Use Learning Strategies: Toward a Theory of Settings , 1990 .

[17]  W. Kintsch,et al.  Strategies of discourse comprehension , 1983 .

[18]  Stephanie D. Teasley,et al.  Perspectives on socially shared cognition , 1991 .

[19]  Andrea A. diSessa,et al.  Unlearning Aristotelian Physics: A Study of Knowledge-Based Learning , 1982, Cogn. Sci..

[20]  P. Thagard,et al.  Analogy, Explanation, and Education. , 1992 .

[21]  N. Cole.  Conceptions of Educational Achievement , 1990 .

[22]  P. Alexander.  A Cognitive Perspective on Mathematics: Issues of Perception, Instruction, and Assessment , 1992 .

[23]  Eugene L. Chiappetta,et al.  A quantitative analysis of high school chemistry textbooks for scientific literacy themes and expository learning aids , 1991 .

[24]  W. Holliday,et al.  Enhancing Learning Using Questions Adjunct to Science Charts. , 1991 .

[25]  Eugene L. Chiappetta,et al.  A method to quantify major themes of scientific literacy in science textbooks , 1991 .

[26]  Ann L. Brown,et al.  Guided, Cooperative Learning and Individual Knowledge Acquisition , 2018, Knowing, Learning, and Instruction.

[27]  K. Holyoak,et al.  Interdomain Transfer Between Isomorphic Topics in Algebra and Physics , 1989 .

[28]  David E. Brown.  Using examples and analogies to remediate misconceptions in physics: Factors influencing conceptual change , 1992 .

[29]  Jill H. Larkin,et al.  Novice Strategies for Processing Scientific Texts. , 1986 .

[30]  W. Kintsch.  Learning from text, levels of comprehension, or: Why anyone would read a story anyway , 1980 .

[31]  Ruth Stavy,et al.  Using analogy to overcome misconceptions about conservation of matter , 1991 .

[32]  P. Alexander,et al.  Coming to Terms: How Researchers in Learning and Literacy Talk About Knowledge , 1991 .

[33]  Patricia A. Alexander,et al.  Domain knowledge: Evolving themes and emerging concerns. , 1992 .

[34]  P. Alexander,et al.  Metacognition: Answered and Unanswered Questions , 1989 .

[35]  A. Ahlgren,et al.  Science for all Americans , 1990 .

[36]  W. Kintsch.  Learning From Text , 1986, Knowing, Learning, and Instruction.

[37]  William G. Holliday,et al.  How Can Comprehension Adjunct Questions Focus Students' Attention and Enhance Concept Learning of a Computer-Animated Science Lesson?. , 1992 .

[38]  Ulrich Schiefele,et al.  Interest, Learning, and Motivation , 1991 .

[39]  Margaret G. McKeown,et al.  The Contribution of Prior Knowledge and Coherent Text to Comprehension , 1992 .

[40]  J. Sweller,et al.  Structuring Effective Worked Examples , 1990 .

[41]  P. Alexander,et al.  Contrasting Instructional and Structural Importance: The Seductive Effect of Teacher Questions , 1994 .

[42]  K. Ann Renninger,et al.  Effect Of Interest On Attentional Shift, Recognition, And Recall In Young Children , 1985 .

[43]  P. Alexander,et al.  The Interaction of Domain-Specific and Strategic Knowledge in Academic Performance , 1988 .

[44]  M. Ferguson-Hessler,et al.  Studying Physics Texts: Differences in Study Processes Between Good and Poor Performers , 1990 .

[45]  Richard C. Anderson,et al.  Recall of Previously Unrecallable Information Following a Shift in Perspective. Technical Report No. 41. , 1977 .

[46]  D. Gursky.  The Unschooled Mind. , 1991 .

[47]  Patricia A. Alexander,et al.  Interest and Learning From Text , 1991 .

[48]  P. Alexander,et al.  Dimensions of the interplay between learning and teaching , 1993 .

[49]  J. Shymansky,et al.  Elementary school teachers' beliefs about and perceptions of elementary school science, science reading, science textbooks, and supportive instructional factors , 1991 .

[50]  L. Yore.  Secondary science teachers' attitudes toward and beliefs about science reading and science textbooks , 1991 .

[51]  Walter Kintsch,et al.  Toward a model of text comprehension and production. , 1978 .

[52]  James G. Greeno,et al.  Number sense as situated knowing in a conceptual domain , 1990 .

[53]  P. Alexander,et al.  The Role of Subject-Matter Knowledge and Interest in the Processing of Linear and Nonlinear Texts , 1994 .

[54]  Michelene T. H. Chi,et al.  Self-Explanations: How Students Study and Use Examples in Learning To Solve Problems. Technical Report No. 9. , 1987 .