Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Witkow, Melissa R.
• Spiekerman, Allie
• Ford-Roshon, Chagall
• Hershman, Tova
• Stevens, Courtney

Titel

An experimental study of the effects of scaffolding and context in training graphical literacy among 2- and 4-year college students

Ist Teil von

• Scholarship of teaching and learning in psychology, 2022-11

Ort / Verlag

Washington: Educational Publishing Foundation

Erscheinungsjahr

2022

Quelle

APA PsycArticles

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• College-level science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses and instructors often incorrectly assume that students know how to effectively use graphs to learn course content. Modeled on strategies from reading instruction, and using bar graphs displaying research findings from published psychology studies as materials, the present study examined whether a brief, online graph-reading program could help train graphical literacy skills among first- and second-year college students. In particular, we experimentally crossed conditions of scaffolding (i.e., progressing from easier to more difficult graphs and questions) and context (i.e., providing background information about the variables displayed and their meaning in relation to a research question), while providing feedback for incorrect answer choices across all conditions. Students from both a 4-year and a 2-year college ( N = 356) demonstrated better scores on a graph-reading assessment, immediately and 2-weeks later, when their training included scaffolding and/or context. The results suggest that intentionally providing scaffolded and contextually relevant training of graphical literacy skills rather than simply providing exposure to graphs, as may be the case in many STEM classes, may be particularly effective for student learning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)