Assessing the Format of the Presentation of Text in Developing a Reading Strategy Assessment Tool (R-SAT)

We are constructing a new computerized test of reading comprehension called the Reading Strategy Assessment Tool (R-SAT). R-SAT elicits and analyzes verbal protocols that readers generate in response to questions as they read texts. We examined whether the amount of information available to the reader when reading and answering questions influenced the extent to which R-SAT accounts for comprehension. We found that R-SAT was most predictive of comprehension when the readers did not have access to the text as they answered questions

Using Latent Semantic Analysis to Assess Reader Strategies

We tested a computer-based procedure for assessing reader strategies that was based on verbal protocols that utilized latent semantic analysis (LSA). Students were given self-explanation-reading training (SERT), which teaches strategies that facilitate self-explanation during reading, such as elaboration based on world knowledge and bridging between text sentences. During a computerized version of SERT practice, students read texts and typed self-explanations into a computer after each sentence. The use of SERT strategies during this practice was assessed by determining the extent to which students used the information in the current sentence versus the prior text or world knowledge in their self-explanations. This assessment was made on the basis of human judgments and LSA. Both human judgments and LSA were remarkably similar and indicated that students who were not complying with SERT tended to paraphrase the text sentences, whereas students who were compliant with SERT tended to explain the sentences in terms of what they knew about the world and of information provided in the prior text context. The similarity between human judgments and LSA indicates that LSA will be useful in accounting for reading strategies in a Web-based version of SERT

The Orbit, Mass, and Albedo of Transneptunian Binary 1999 RZ253

We have observed 1999 RZ253 with the Hubble Space Telescope at seven separate epochs and have fit an orbit to the observed relative positions of this binary. Two orbital solutions have been identified that differ primarily in the inclination of the orbit plane. The best fit corresponds to an orbital period, P=46.263 +0.006/-0.074 days, semimajor axis a=4,660 +/-170 km and orbital eccentricity e=0.460 +/-0.013 corresponding to a system mass m=3.7 +/-0.4 x10^18 kg. For a density of rho = 1000 kg m^-3 the albedo at 477 nm is p = 0.12 +/-0.01, significantly higher than has been commonly assumed for objects in the Kuiper Belt. Multicolor, multiepoch photometry shows this pair to have colors typical for the Kuiper belt with a spectral gradient of 0.35 per 100 nm in the range between 475 and 775 nm. Photometric variations at the four epochs we observed were as large as 12 +/-3% but the sampling is insufficient to confirm the existence of a lightcurve

IN PRESS--- PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE Comparing Word-based and LSA Systems 1 Evaluating Self-Explanations in iSTART: Comparing Word-based and LSA Algorithms Send correspondence to:

Comparing Word-based and LSA Systems 2 This chapter compares the effectiveness of LSA and non-latent word-based algorithms in assessing the quality of self-explanations in iSTART, an automated tutor for improving students’ self-explanations of science texts. We have compared various methods of using LSA and word-based methods to guide the responses the tutor makes to the students concerning the quality of their explanations. This chapter examines the effectiveness of 7 systems using word-based algorithms, LSA, and combinations of both, that vary in the degree of manual preparation of the target text required. Their effectiveness is measured in terms of their match to human ratings of the explanations. Our results indicate that the most successful method is a combined system with no hand coding. This fully automated system will make it possible for us to more easily expand iSTART's repertoire to include a wide variety of practice texts. Comparing Word-based and LSA Systems 3 Evaluating Self-Explanations in iSTART: Comparing Word-based and LSA Systems Interactive Strategy Training for Active Reading and Thinking (iSTART) is a web-base

Discourse comprehension

The field of discourse processing has dissected many of the levels of representation that are constructed when individuals read or listen to connected discourse. These levels include the surface code, the propositional textbase, the referential situation model, the communication context, and the discourse genre. Discourse psychologists have developed models that specify how these levels are mentally represented and how they are dynamically built during comprehension. This chapter focuses on the meaning representations that are constructed when adults read written text, such as literary stories, technical expository text, and experimenter-generated "textoids." Recent psychological models have attempted to account for the identification of referents of referring expressions (e.g. which person in the text does she refer to), the connection of explicit text segments, the establishment of local and global coherence, and the encoding of knowledge-based inferences

A Reasoned Approach to Dealing With Fake News

International audienceWe now have almost no filters on information that we can access, and this requires a much more vigilant, knowledgeable reader. Learning false information from the web can have dire consequences for personal, social, and personal decision making. Given how our memory works and our biases in selecting and interpreting information, now more than ever we must control our own cognitive and affective processing. As examples: Simply repeating information can increase confidence in its perceived truth; initial incorrect information remains available and can continue to have an effect despite learning the corrected information; and we are more likely to accept information that is consistent with our beliefs. Information evaluation requires readers (a) to set and monitor their goals of accuracy, coherence, and completeness; (b) to employ strategies to achieve these goals; and (c) to value this time- and effort-consuming systematic evaluation. Several recommendations support a reasoned approach to fake news and manipulation

Didactic galactic: Types of knowledge learned in a serious game

Operation ARA is a serious game that teaches scientific inquiry using natural language conversations. Within the context of the game, students completed up to two distinct training modules that teach either didactic or applied conceptual information about research methodology (e.g., validity of dependent variables, need for control groups). An experiment using a 4-condition between-subjects pretest-interaction-posttest design was conducted in which 81 undergraduate college students interacted with varying modules of Operation ARA. The four conditions were designed to test the impact of the two distinct modules on different types of learning measured by multiple-choice, short answer, and case-based assessment questions. Results revealed significant differences on training condition and learning gains on two of the three types of questions. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg