Disciplined Reading, Disciplined Learning

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Disciplined Reading,Disciplined Learning

UNDERGRADUATES INDEPENDENT AND SCAFFOLDED
READING OF COURSE TEXTS FURTHER EVIDENCE OF
FRAGILE UNDERSTANDING Emily Fox, Daniel L.
Dinsmore, Liliana Maggioni, and Patricia A.
Alexander This investigation explored
undergraduates fragile understanding of reading.
Our 12 participants, undergraduates studying
research methods, read textbook passages
presenting new (Independent) and previously
encountered (Scaffolded) material. Learning
outcomes were assessed. Students approach to
these passages, revealed in their think-alouds,
was consistently related to their learning
outcomes. Knowledge Reliant and Effortful readers
required scaffolding to learn from the text, or
failed even then. Reading approaches were also
related to final course grades, indicating the
significant consequences of students fragile
understandings of reading.
WHAT DID I LEARN? AND HOW DID I DO? THE
RELATION BETWEEN METACOGNITION AND WORD
LEARNING Meghan M. Parkinson The purpose of this
study was to investigate that relation between
metacognition and word learning for competent
readers. These primary question of the study was
Do undergraduates better at assessing what they
learned and how well they did actually learn more
words? Participants read six passages from the
works of Edgar Allan Poe and Washington Irving
and after each passage, judged their
comprehension of the passage and the target
words. Finally, participants were required to
define the target words and then rate their
performance. Preliminary results indicate that
the higher students' rate themselves on what they
learned, the greater their gains in word
knowledge suggesting they are metacognitively
aware of their level of word learning.  
IDENTIFYING THE PLAY INTERESTS OF YOUNG
CHILDREN Jan Jablonski and Patricia A.
Alexander This project examines preferred play
activities which are not domain-specific. Four
methods for identifying preferred play activities
are being evaluated for a group of 38 four and
five-year olds. The methods are direct
observation during free play at school, and
interviews of children, parents, and teachers.
Results will be subjected to quantitative and
qualitative analysis in order to evaluate the
reliability of each method as a way to identify
preferred play activities.
WALKING ON THE BORDERS A MEASURE OF EPISTEMIC
COGNITION IN HISTORY Liliana Maggioni, Bruce
VanSledright, and Patricia Alexander This
exploratory study builds on literatures related
to the development of epistemic cognition,
research on historical thinking, and studies of
individuals epistemic beliefs. It was designed
to explore, develop, and test a measure of
epistemic cognition in history. The questionnaire
was administered to elementary teachers and
college history professors and represents an
effort to construct a reliable and valid measure
that could effectively monitor changes in
epistemic cognition across large samples. Results
showed that experts beliefs are compatible with
the theoretical model we chose as reference,
while responses from elementary teachers
suggested that novices may entertain epistemic
beliefs in history more complex than what
hypothesized by the model derived from the
literature.
PEER COLLABORATION THE RELATION BETWEEN
DISCOURSE AND LEARNING Fielding I. Winters and
Patricia A. Alexander This study investigated
the relation between how much high-school
students were able to learn about a complex
system, the human circulatory system, using a
hypermedia encylopedia with a peer, and the
learning behaviors of those students. Results
revealed significant correlations between
students behaviors (as evidenced in their verbal
discourse) and their learning gains. Qualitative
analyses revealed particular behaviors that
large-gain students engaged in to a greater
extent than small-gain students.
VISUAL COMPREHENSION COGNITIVE PROCESSING OF
ART TEXT BY PRE-ADOLESCENT AND ADOLESCENT
READERS Sandra M. Loughlin, Patricia A.
Alexander, Daniel L. Dinsmore, and Emily E.
Fox The focus of this study is to examine how
"reading" art text maps onto what we know about
reading traditional text. We are using think
aloud protocols to analyze the processing of
pre-adolescent and adolescent readers
comprehending art texts. Participants'
preliminary think-aloud data reveals nine
traditional text comprehension processes,
including higher-level processes like elaborating
and inferring. These preliminary results indicate
that reading and art comprehension processes are
in fact similar, and that art may provide fertile
ground for practicing higher-level comprehension
strategies.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS KOREAN STUDENTS' ACADEMIC
WRITING DEVELOPMENT IN AN ENGLISH AS A SECOND
LANGUAGE WRITING CLASS Soo Eun Chae, Patricia A.
Alexander, and Joshua Magda We were
particularly interested in the effect that
students' participation in orchestrated
experiences (i.e., college courses) designed
expressly to promote their academic development
for second language learners over the semester.
Analysis of multiple sources (i.e., field notes,
blogs, interviews, work samples, teacher
feedback, and focus group interactions) revealed
how differently each individual change over time.