TY - JOUR
T1 - Self-Explanation and Reading Strategy Training (SERT) Improves Low-Knowledge Students’ Science Course Performance
AU - McNamara, Danielle
N1 - Funding Information:
I am particularly grateful to Jennifer Scott who helped to conduct this experiment. This project was funded in part by the National Science Foundation (REC-0089271; IIS-0735682) and the Institute for Education Sciences (R305A130124). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or Institute for Education Sciences. I am particularly grateful to Jennifer Scott who helped to conduct this experiment. This project was funded in part by the National Science Foundation (REC-0089271; IIS-0735682) and the Institute for Education Sciences (R305A130124). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or Institute for Education Sciences.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2017/10/3
Y1 - 2017/10/3
N2 - This study demonstrates the generalization of previous laboratory results showing the benefits of Self-Explanation Reading Training (SERT) to college students’ course exam performance. The participants were 265 students enrolled in an Introductory Biology course, 59 of whom were provided with SERT. The results showed that SERT benefited students who began the course with less knowledge about science but did not benefit students with greater prior science knowledge. Moreover, across the three exams in the course, low-knowledge students who received SERT performed as well as high-knowledge students, whereas low-knowledge students without SERT performed more poorly than high-knowledge students. Hence, instruction on how to self-explain and use comprehension strategies allowed low-knowledge students to overcome their knowledge deficits. These results provide further evidence that self-explanation in combination with instruction and practice using comprehension strategies helps students to more effectively process and understand science.
AB - This study demonstrates the generalization of previous laboratory results showing the benefits of Self-Explanation Reading Training (SERT) to college students’ course exam performance. The participants were 265 students enrolled in an Introductory Biology course, 59 of whom were provided with SERT. The results showed that SERT benefited students who began the course with less knowledge about science but did not benefit students with greater prior science knowledge. Moreover, across the three exams in the course, low-knowledge students who received SERT performed as well as high-knowledge students, whereas low-knowledge students without SERT performed more poorly than high-knowledge students. Hence, instruction on how to self-explain and use comprehension strategies allowed low-knowledge students to overcome their knowledge deficits. These results provide further evidence that self-explanation in combination with instruction and practice using comprehension strategies helps students to more effectively process and understand science.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85015039709&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85015039709&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/0163853X.2015.1101328
DO - 10.1080/0163853X.2015.1101328
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85015039709
SN - 0163-853X
VL - 54
SP - 479
EP - 492
JO - Discourse Processes
JF - Discourse Processes
IS - 7
ER -