Writing to Learn from Multiple-Source Inquiry Activities in History

Abstract

When learning about a historical topic, students must be able to work with information from multiple sources. In order to successfully integrate information across sources, students must understand the temporal structure of the events across documents (contextualization) and compare sources for consistent and conflicting information (corroboration). Three experiments examined how contextualization could be enhanced through the use of timelines and how corroboration could be enhanced through the use of inquiry-based essay prompts. A positionbased essay prompt focused on evaluation of a specific cause while the contributing-factors essay prompt focused on explanation of the causes. Experiment 1 found that generating a timeline during learning did not improve essay quality compared to a read-only control. Although the position-based essay prompt was especially interesting to undergraduate students, it led to less coverage of concepts in the essays compared to an explanation-based essay prompt. Experiment 2 found a similar pattern of decreased coverage with the position-based prompts for high school students. Experiment 3 added a recognition test to serve as a learning measure, and found that younger students learned more after generating a timeline during reading compared to a read-only control. Taken together, these findings suggest that timelines may enhance learning, but only for younger students. Furthermore, the results illustrate that different writing tasks affect students' likelihood of synthesizing information across sources and their learning outcomes.

Trends in Research on Writing as a Learning Activity

“…MacArthur (2014) has recently reviewed cognitive strategy instruction research in writing at the elementary and secondary level in three disciplines: Science, history and literature. For example, during the 2000s, research on WTL in history became largely discipline-specific in its approach (De La Paz, 2005;De La Paz and Felton, 2010;Ferretti, MacArthur & Okolo, 2001;Wiley, Steffens, Britt, and Griffin, 2014;van Drie, van Boxtel & Braaksma, 2014). To develop this approach, writing researchers used studies in which professional historians reasoned about contested issues (Seixas, 1993;Wineburg, 2001).…”

“…Researchers then typically created sets of materials, such as primary source documents, which students could use to inform writing about a controversial question. In this context, students were taught to read historical materials, interpret them critically, and use them as evidence in arguments (De La Paz, 2005;De La Paz and Felton, 2010;Ferretti et al, 2001;Wiley et al, 2014;Van Drie et al, 2014). In a recent study, De La Paz and Felton (2010) taught students a multi-step strategy for reading historical documents critically; and followed this with a Self-Regulated Strategy Development approach to teaching argument writing (De La Paz & Graham, 1997).…”

Learning science through argumentative synthesis writing and deliberative dialogues: a comprehensive and effective methodology in secondary education

“…Argumentative synthesis writing from conflicting sources requires examining the relationship between arguments and counterarguments, in order to reconcile two perspectives about a controversy (Mateos et al, 2018). These integration processes promote constructive learning (Mateos et al, 2014;Nelson, 2008;Wiley et al, 2014) and they may have contributed to a better understanding of the sources which the learning questions were based on (Barzilai et al, 2018). Therefore, our findings show that interventions based on peergroup deliberative discussions about socio-scientific issues, in combination with argumentative synthesis writing from sources with conflicting information related to socio-scientific issues, contribute positively to the students' scientific literacy.…”

“…These processes lead to a better understanding of the sources and the connections between them (Barzilai et al, 2018). This is the reason why argumentative synthesis writing from sources with conflicting information promote constructive learning and reinforce the ability to take perspective (Mateos et al, 2014;Nelson, 2008;Wiley et al, 2014).…”

Book review: Writing as a learning activity | Klein, P. D., Boscolo, P., Kirckpatrick, L. C., & Gelati, C. (Eds.) (2014). Writing as a Learning Activity. [Studies in Writing. Leiden/Boston: Brill | ISBN: 978 90 04 25967 6

“…Given the importance of the learning environment and, in particular, the multiple text sources writers typically draw upon for producing their texts, it is no wonder that some of the chapters focus on writing-to-learn from multiple sources (e.g., Wiley et al, 2014;Mateos et al, 2014). The authors of these chapters do not necessarily adopt a situated cognition perspective, but they convincingly argue that writing in or out of the disciplines is mostly based on prior reading of more than one text.…”