Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: [Phys-l] More Difficult to Read Text Leads to Better Retention

Some subscribers to Phys-L and Physoc might be interested in a post "Re: More
Difficult to Read Text Leads to Better Retention" [Hake (2010)]. The abstract reads:

******************************************
ABSTRACT: PhysLrnR's Bill Goffe alerted subscribers to an "Economist"
report <http://bit.ly/bfpdaB> on an article "Fortune Favors the Bold
(and the Italicized): Effects of Disfluency on Educational Outcomes"
(Oppenheimer et al. (2010, <http://bit.ly/cATcBK>).

In research conducted both in the lab and in chemistry, physics,
English, and history classrooms, Oppenheimer et al. (2010) found that
information made "disfluent" with difficult-to-read fonts (12-point
Comic Sans MS 75% greyscale and 12-point Bodoni MT 75% greyscale)
enhanced "learning" over more fluent information in easy-to-read
16-point Arial pure-black font.

But classroom "learning" was measured by "normal assessment tests"
which usually gauge only lower-level learning such as
rote-memorization, recipe following, and algorithmic problem-solving.

One might wonder, for example, if, after textbook coverage of
Newtonian mechanics, there would be an increase of posttest scores on
the conceptually oriented "Force Concept Inventory" (FCI) [Halloun &
Hestenes (1992)] for text material with more:

(a) difficult-to-read fonts,

(b) "Fog" as measured by the "Gunning Fog Index", or

(c) structural complexity [as studied by e.g., McNamara, Kintsch, Songer,
& Kintsch (1996) in "Are good texts always better? Text coherence,
background knowledge, and levels of understanding in learning from
text."]
******************************************

To access the complete 20 kB post please click on <http://bit.ly/cZ9xHe>.


Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands
President, PEdants for Definitive Academic References which Recognize the
Invention of the Internet (PEDARRII)
<rrhake@earthlink.net>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>
<http://HakesEdStuff.blogspot.com>
<http://iub.academia.edu/RichardHake>

"Easy reading is damned hard writing."
- Nathaniel Hawthorne

"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place."
- George Bernard Shaw


REFERENCES
Hake, R.R. 2010. "Re: More Difficult to Read Text Leads to Better Retention." online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at <http://bit.ly/cZ9xHe>. Post of 27 Oct 2010 17:14:33-0700 to AERA-L, Net-Gold, and PhysLrnR. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to various discussion lists and are also on my blog "HakeEdStuff" at <http://bit.ly/b9Zxhg> with a provision for comments.