Epistemic Justification in Multiple Document Literacy: A Refutation Text Intervention

This study investigated the effects of a refutation text intervention on Norwegian teacher education students’ (n = 150) beliefs about justification for knowing and their subsequent performance on a multiple document literacy task. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions in which they read a refutation text that promoted the conception that an appropriate way to judge the trustworthiness of information about educational topics is to rely on personal understanding and practical experience, the expertise of the author, or comparison of multiple sources. Results showed that participants’ beliefs about epistemic justification were strongly influenced by the intervention. Beyond effects on self-reported justification beliefs, effects on participants’ selection of documents varying in terms of the expertise of the author and the stance toward the issue discussed across the documents were observed, as well as effects on how participants justified their document selections, processed the selected documents, and finally used them in their written task products. As such, the effects of the intervention targeting beliefs about epistemic justification transferred to various stages of the multiple document task.publishedVersio

Self-Regulated learning and the use of Information and communications technology in Norwegian Teacher education : the project ICT as a factor of change in teacher education

I denne rapporten drøfter forfatterne norsk allmennlærerutdanning med spesiell vekt på de oppfatningene om læring og undervisning som kommer til uttrykk i rammeplanen for utdanningen. Spesielt tar de opp den sterke satsingen på å fremme selvregulert læring gjennom økt bruk av informasjons- og kommunikasjonsteknologi (IKT) i lærerutdanningen. Forfatterne redegjør for forskning som kan tyde på at norsk lærerutdanning preges av tradisjonelle lærings- og undervisningsformer til tross for en slik satsing, og de drøfter i hvilken grad økt bruk av IKT i seg selv egentlig kan bidra til nye former for læring og undervisning. De beskriver og analyserer så innovasjonsprosjektet "IKT som endringsfaktor i allmennlærerutdanningen", hvor bruken av IKT og studentansvar for kunnskapskonstruksjon var tenkt å gjennomsyre alle deler av studiet. Basert på en ekstern evaluering av dette prosjektet, som forfatterne foretok under det først studieåret, argumenterer de for at tilgang til ny teknologi må kobles sammen med direkte støtte til studentenes selvregulering og samarbeidsferdigheter, dersom teknologien virkelig skal bidra til å endre det som foregår i studentenes klasserom

Multiple models of multiple-text comprehension: A commentary

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Educational Psychologist on 07 Jul 2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00461520.2017.132055

Forførende entusiasme: 40 års forskning på Dr. Fox-effekten

I 1973 publiserte en gruppe forskere artikkelen «The Doctor Fox lecture: A paradigm of educational seduction» (Naftulin, Ware & Donnelly, 1973). Forskerne presenterte flere studier der en engasjert og uttrykksfull «ekspert» leverte en forelesning om forholdet mellom matematisk spillteori og medisinsk utdanning. Innholdet var meningsløst, men tilhørerne var begeistret og forskerne konkluderte at tilhørerne var blitt forført til å tro at de hadde lært noe nytt og vesentlig. Studien har vakt mye debatt opp gjennom årene, og den siteres fremdeles flittig. En vesentlig andel av diskusjonen har dreid seg om validiteten i studentevaluering. Er god studentevaluering nødvendigvis en indikasjon på at studentene har lært noe? Etter 40 års diskusjon ønsket Peer og Babad (2014) å replikere den opprinnelige studien til Naftulin et al. (1973). Resultatene i den nye studien sammenfalt overraskende godt med den opprinnelige studien fra 1973, med hensyn til hvor fornøyde studentene var. Imidlertid ga den nye studien grunnlag for å stille spørsmål ved om studentene opplevde at de lærte så mye. I denne artikkelen vil en gjennomgå sentrale studier på den såkalte Dr. Fox-effekten og drøfte resultatene i forhold til hvilken betydning lærerens entusiasme kan ha for god undervisning

Students’ trust in research-based results about potential health risks presented in popular media

Socioscientific issues receive considerable public attention and there are concerns that people in general are not able or willing to deal with information at odds with what they believe to be true. In this study, we focused on students’ beliefs about two controversial issues: whether consumption of the artificial sweetener aspartame and use of cell phones, respectively, represent any serious health risks. Our aim was to investigate whether students’ trust in the information was related to prior beliefs, the nature of the message, and students’ critical reading strategies. Results showed interactions between prior beliefs about the issues and text condition (risk vs. no risk) on trust in conclusions that indicated a confirmation bias assumption. Additionally, students trusted conclusions ascertaining that there were risks more than conclusions ascertaining that there were no risks. Finally, students’ self-reported use of critical reading strategies implied less trust in both types of conclusions

Who Said That? Investigating the Plausibility-Induced Source Focusing Assumption with Norwegian Undergraduate Readers

The present study investigated to what extent encountering a textual claim that contradicts one’s prior beliefs may increase readers’ memory for the source of the information, such as the author or publication. A sample of 71 Norwegian economics and administration undergraduates were presented with texts on cell phones and potential health risks that either concluded that cell phones involve serious health risks or that they are perfectly safe. Results showed that readers’ memory for source feature information increased when the conclusion of the text contradicted the belief that cell phone use poses serious health risks but not when it contradicted the belief that cell phone use does not involve such risks. This is partly consistent with the Plausibility-Induced Source Focusing assumption recently proposed by de Pereyra, Britt, Braasch, and Rouet (2014), suggesting that when readers judge content information to be implausible in light of their prior beliefs on the topic, they may be more likely to seek support from available information about the source to make sense of the content

Problem-based learning: the emergence of new scripts and roles for teachers to render epistemic practices transparent

A lack of alignment between professional practice and education has triggered the move to alternative educational models, often with detailed scripts and templates to be followed. Among these are variants of problem/case-based models, where learners are challenged to achieve professionally desired learning outcomes and acquire knowledge and skills in their respective disciplines by encountering real-life situations as the stimulus and focus of their learning activities. A characteristic of these diverse models is that their scripts have been based on theories and understandings of what constitutes good learning and teaching in general. This article reports on a study conducted among law students that uses a script which focuses on the core ‘know-how’ of the legal profession. To examine the merits of this approach with respect to actionable knowledge, we employ perspectives from Knorr Cetina’s practice-theoretical lens. Particular attention is paid to how students are introduced to and learn the three archetypes of epistemic practices that Knorr Cetina identifies as central for members of expert cultures. The results from the study not only show that these practices were developed but also detail what is important in this respect. Thus, the article addresses calls in this journal for more research on how connections between school and work for professionals can be enhanced

The role of students' prior beliefs in recall and evaluation of information from texts on socio-scientific issues

In this research, we investigated relationships between undergraduate students’ prior topic beliefs and their recall of the main conclusions from texts on controversial socio-scientific issues, to what extent students trusted the recalled conclusions, and how they justified their trust in those conclusions. While belief-biased recall of text conclusions was not observed in this study, students were found to trust the recalled conclusions more when they were consistent than when they were inconsistent with students’ prior beliefs about the issues. Moreover, students primarily justified their trust in the recalled conclusions by referring to their personal opinions on the issues. Finally, students who correctly recalled text conclusions even when those conclusions were at odds with their prior beliefs about the issues outperformed students who incorrectly recalled conclusions that were consistent with their prior beliefs on measures of cognitive reflection and reported use of critical reading strategies. Theoretical as well as educational implications of these findings are discussed. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Nordic Psychology on 21 Jun 2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/19012276.2016.119827

Sourcing in Text Comprehension: a Review of Interventions Targeting Sourcing Skills

The process of using information about documents such as the author, genre, and date of publication while evaluating and interpreting those documents’ content was labeled “sourcing” in a seminal paper by Wineburg (Journal of Educational Psychology, 83, 73, 1991). Studies in various domains have adapted the term sourcing while referring to central reading skills in modern information societies. In this review, we discuss the concept of sourcing grounded in research from social psychology, information sciences, and text comprehension. Based on that, we reviewed 18 intervention studies in educational settings, in order to identify how sourcing was operationalized in the studies, the nature of the interventions, and how successful they were. The review shows that interventions for younger students emphasized source credibility, whereas interventions among older students also emphasized the role of sourcing in interpretation. None of the studies measured how students search for source features or specifically which features they attend to. Regarding the nature of the studies, the use of multiple partly conflicting documents was common, with that condition positively related to outcome measures. Another characteristic was the use of inquiry tasks. A majority of the studies do not apply findings from persuasion theory and information science indicating that credibility assessment requires effort and motivation. Future interventions should more strongly emphasize the relationship between sourcing and motivation. The final version of this reseach has been published in Educational Psychology Review. © 2017 Springer Verla