Explanatory analogies can help children acquire information from expository text.

Vosniadou, Stella; Schommer, Marlene

doi:10.1037/0022-0663.80.4.524

Cited by 53 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…It was noted that analogies map information from a source domain onto a target domain. Pilot data revealed that such explicit instructions greatly facilitate participants' understanding and use of analogical passages, a finding that is common in this literature (see Bisanz, Bisanz, & Lefevre, 1984;Donnelly & McDaniel, 1993;Gentner, 1989;Gick & Holyoak, 1980;Reed, Ernst, & Banerji, 1974;Vosniadou & Schommer, 1988).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 67%

Learning with analogy and elaborative interrogation.

McDaniel¹,

Donnelly²

1996

Journal of Educational Psychology

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Previous work has found that embedding analogy in a text improves accurate inferencing, but at the expense of factual learning of newly learned scientific concepts. This study explored the possibility of eliminating the decrease in factual learning by combining analogy with key-word highlighting, pictorial schematics, or elaborative interrogation. Schematics had no effect on either factual or inference learning. Combining key-word highlighting with analogy increased factual learning to levels comparable with those found in the literal-text conditions. Elaborative interrogation produced robust gains in both factual and inference learning, regardless of whether the technique was combined with analogy. These results represent an extension of the situations in which elaborative interrogation produces potent learning benefits and emphasizes its potential over alternative instructional methods.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 67%

Learning with analogy and elaborative interrogation.

McDaniel¹,

Donnelly²

1996

Journal of Educational Psychology

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“…Examples are descriptions of mechanical models, concrete advance organizers, and metaphors (Mayer & Bromage, 1980;Royer & Cable, 1976;Simons, 1984;Vosniadou & Schommer, 1988). These analogies are considered to help in bridging the gap between what is already known and what should be learned, by acting as a frame into which the new concepts could be integrated.…”

Section: Instructional Methods Aimed At Integrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Explanatory models in the processing of science text: The role of prior knowledge activation through small-group discussion.

Schmidt

Volder

Grave

et al. 1989

Journal of Educational Psychology

160

124

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Two experiments assessed effects of activation of prior knowledge through small-group discussion. Subjects were given a description of natural phenomena and were asked to elaborate on possible explanations for them. In Experiment 1, small groups of subjects were presented with a problem describing the behavior of a blood cell in pure water and in a salt solution. No additional text was studied. The experimental subjects produced more than twice as many propositions about osmosis (i.e. the biological process explaining the blood cell's behavior) as a control group produced. Experiment 2 investigated effects of problem analysis on subsequent text processing for subjects with imprecise prior knowledge (novices) and subjects with precise knowledge (experts). Recall of the text showed considerable facilitative effects of problem analysis. Results are explained in terms of faster accessibility of prior knowledge and better integration of new information into explanatory models that may exist before, or are actively constructed during, problem analysis.

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“…Traditionally, analogies are one type of imagery employed with success, (Vosniadou, & Schommer, 1988;Dupin, & Joshua, 1989;Halpern, Hansen, & Riefer, 1990;Duit, 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies aimed at improving scientific text design have considered: (a) coherence textual changes, (e.g., Kintsch, & Yarbrough, 1982;McNamara, Kintsch, Songer, & Kintsch, 1996); linking textual changes, (e.g., Vosniadou, & Schommer, 1988;Dupin, & Joshua, 1989); and, (c) the two kinds of textual changes simultaneously, (e.g., Beck et al, 1991; Britton, & Gü lgöz, 1991). However an exhaustive literature search does not reveal any study on the combination of the two kinds of textual changes separately and in tandem to test the effect of each possible element and of their combination on different levels of comprehension.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Levels of comprehension of scientific prose: the role of text variables

Vidal‐Abarca¹,

López²

1998

Learning and Instruction

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This research investigates the role played on shallow and deep levels of comprehension by textual changes that are aimed at: (a) improving the relationships within text ideas, and (b) producing better links between text ideas and the reader's knowledge. Four versions of a long physics passage were elaborated combining both kinds of textual changes. Four groups of tenth graders were each given one of the four versions. Different measures representative of these levels of comprehension were taken: getting main ideas, recall, and problem solving. The results indicated that: (a) main idea performance was affected by improving the relationships within text ideas, (b) both textual changes contributed separately to recall, and (c) problem solving increased only when the two changes were presented together. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved Scientific texts are an important tool for learning and their improvement is a relevant educational issue. Since the 1980's, many studies have been developed to test the efficacy of certain textual changes. These changes may be classified into two groups: (a) changes aimed at improving the relationships within text ideas without adding new content facts to the original text, and (b) changes aimed at producing better links between text ideas and the reader's previous knowledge by adding new content facts to the text. We may call the former coherence textual changes, and the latter linking textual changes.Coherence textual changes refer to changes which, firstly, improve global coherence by explicitly including topical expressions such as headings, topic sentences, or summaries, (van Dijk, & Kintsch, 1983;Kieras, 1985), and secondly, increase connections from one idea to the next in the text. In the former, topical expressions facilitate the processes of macrostructure formation (Meyer, Brandt, & Bluth, 1980;Britton, Glynn, Meyer, & Penland, 1982). These processes are especially demanding in scientific texts given that readers generally have little previous knowledge of their content (Britton, Glynn, & Smith, 1985). In the latter, the *Departamento de Psicologia Evolutiva y de la Educacion [Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology], University of Valencia, P.O. Box 22045, 46071 Valencia, Spain. E-mail: Eduardo.Vidal-abarca@uv.es 215 increase in connections within an existing text can be accomplished in two ways: by re-stating textual ideas, and by making explicit certain implicit relationships presented in the original text.In general, a re-statement of textual ideas refreshes the memory and aids the reader in her textual understanding (Kintsch, & van Dijk, 1978;Britton, Van Dusen, Glynn, & Hemphill, 1990). In particular, scientific texts frequently present a series of premises and then a long chain of reasoning from which the reader must ultimately understand a given conclusion. However the novice reader may have difficulty following that chain of reasoning, especially if the premises were cited so long ago that the information needed to process t...

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Explanatory analogies can help children acquire information from expository text.

Cited by 53 publications

References 48 publications

Learning with analogy and elaborative interrogation.

Learning with analogy and elaborative interrogation.

Explanatory models in the processing of science text: The role of prior knowledge activation through small-group discussion.

Levels of comprehension of scientific prose: the role of text variables

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