Peggy Van Meter

Drawing Construction as a Strategy for Learning From Text

Classroom use of student-generated drawings has been encouraged for a number of purposes (e.g., R. Hubbard & K. Ernst, 1996). The present study examined the use of drawing as a learning strategy for 5thand 6th-grade students reading science text. Three experimental drawing conditions and a reading control tested the hypothesis that drawing is effective only when students are supported during the construction process. Drawing (draw) participants constructed drawings only, whereas illustration comparison participants compared drawings with a provided illustration. Prompted illustration comparison (PIC) participants answered prompting questions to guide this comparison process. Dependent measures included a free-recall and recognition posttest, drawing accuracy, on-line self-monitoring behaviors, and time on task. PIC participants constructed the most accurate drawings and also scored significantly higher on the free-recall posttest. No differences were found on recognition posttest items. Although all drawing conditions spent significantly more time on task, these participants also engaged in significantly more self-monitoring events than did reading control participants. PIC participants also engaged in more events than did draw participants.

Some of the Reasons Why Preparing for Exams Is So Hard: What Can Be Done to Make It Easier?

Why it is so difficult to prepare for academic exams is reviewed with respect to recent research. Textbooks, teaching, and information processing characteristics of students all contribute to undermining effective learning and review. Recommendations are made about how instructors can make it easier for students to review and appraise their test readiness, as well as about how students can make a difference in the quality of their own preparations for tests.

The Role of Theory in the Study of Peer Collaboration

Abstract This special issue illustrates how research on peer collaboration is influenced by different theoretical perspectives. In the first part of this commentary, the role of theory in each article is discussed. The authors use connections among theory, research questions, and study methods to identify how theory affected the work of each group of researchers. They then make the case that the real need lies in the integration of those theories and in the integration of all findings relevant to applied questions of collaborative processing. Following a brief review of relevant theories, the authors demonstrate how a cohesive, integrated theory of group processes can be adopted.

The Effects of Explicitly Teaching Story Structure to Primary Grade Children

The importance of emergentliteracy skills as a foundation for proficientreading has led to the developmentof interventions to teach these skills. These interventions are particularly important for children from disadvantaged homes because they often lack the home literacy experiences necessary for building foundational literacy skills prior to school entry. While previous interventions have been successful in developing literacy skills, noticeably absent has been instruction to develop comprehension. In this study, teachers explicitly taught the narrative structure to kindergarten and first grade children in high poverty schools to increase their comprehension of children’s literature. Instruction was delivered as children listened to stories during daily story time. The findings indicate that children who learned story structures recalled more ideas from new stories and answered more questions about structural elements of those stories (e.g., who is the main character?). The results suggest that teachers can deliver effective comprehension instruction to emergent and beginning readers in the context of listening comprehension activities.

Human clay models versus cat dissection: how the similarity between the classroom and the exam affects student performance

This study examined the effect of different anatomic representations on student learning in a human anatomy class studying the muscular system. Specifically, we examined the efficacy of using dissected cats (with and without handouts) compared with clay sculpting of human structures. Ten undergraduate laboratory sections were assigned to three treatment groups: cat dissection only, cat dissection with handouts, and human clay sculpting with handouts. Exams included higher-order questions that presented novel anatomic images and scenarios that the students did not practice in class. The higher-order anatomy exam questions varied the degree to which students in the different treatments had to transform the anatomic representation studied during laboratory activities to match the representation used in the exam questions. In this respect, exam questions manipulated the similarity between the surface features of the anatomic representations used in the classroom versus the exam. When identifying anatomic structures presented in a photograph or diagram, student performance improved significantly when transformation demands decreased, i.e., students in the human clay sculpting treatment group performed best on human anatomy questions and students in the cat dissection treatment group performed better on cat anatomy questions (independent of the use of handouts). There were similar, but nonsignificant, trends when students were asked functional anatomy questions presented in human and cat contexts. On survey questions designed to measure student attitudes about dissection versus nonanimal alternatives, students typically preferred the method used in their treatment group, suggesting that student preference is too fluid to factor into curricular decisions. When designing curricula, instructors must choose anatomic representations that support their course goals. Human representations are most effective when teaching the human muscular system.

Reading and Integrated Literacy Strategies (RAILS): An Integrated Approach to Early Reading

The goal of this project was to develop and test the efficacy of a research-based early reading program that provided integrated reading instruction in kindergarten through 2nd grade. The Reading and Integrated Literacy Strategies (RAILS) program provided integrated instruction in word reading, vocabulary development, and comprehension to students in regular and self-contained special education classes in 2 schools serving low-income populations. Teachers provided explicit instruction in the alphabetic principle, phonemic analysis, word reading, vocabulary development, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension. Classes were organized so students received 2 periods of reading instruction daily, a longer morning period of instruction and a shorter afternoon review of instruction. The students in the RAILS program had significantly higher performance on standardized reading and language achievement tests, as well as on individually administered tests of phonemic awareness and reading fluency. The implications for research-based instructional practice that integrates instruction in word reading, vocabulary, and comprehension are discussed.

Leveraging metacognitive prompts in construction educational games for higher educational gains

The inclusion of technology in the classroom environment has brought the adoption of a variety of pedagogical intervention such as educational simulation games, which have illustrated a growing pot...

Effectiveness of engineering design focus in strength of materials

Elementary strength of materials is a core undergraduate engineering course that introduces the mechanics of deformable bodies. Traditionally, the focus of the course is on analysis, but we have recast the course to apply analysis to design in order to better prepare students to become engineers — design being the primary function of practicing engineers. A semester-long design project has been implemented to provide an opportunity for students to practice design. Student teams design playground equipment including: conceptual layout, material selection, load specification, design analysis, drawings, cost estimate, and final report. A web site has been created to facilitate administration of the project, provide links to data sources, and give design analysis examples. This paper summarizes the design project and the tools created to ease the time burden associated with the project. The focus is on assessment of the effectiveness of the project. The results of the assessment over three semesters at Penn State are positive. Analysis of the data indicates that the students who completed the course with design emphasis are better skilled at design and perform equally at analysis relative to those students completing the traditional strength of materials course.