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[Phys-l] More Difficult to Read Text Leads to Better Retention #2



Some subscribers to Phys-L and Physoc might be interested in a post "Re: More Difficult to Read Text Leads to Better Retention #2" [Hake (2010)]. The abstract reads:

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ABSTRACT: In response to my post "Re: More Difficult to Read Text Leads to Better Retention" EDDRA2's Keith Baker wrote :

"Bad fonts slow down reading which means that info has longer to get processed into long term memory which improves memory of the info. . . . . . . CP Snow was right. There is no need for physicists to reinvent the wheel psychology discovered 100 years ago if there is good education."

Two points:

1. I wonder if Baker could tell us *what* he thinks C.P. Snow <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._P._Snow> was right about?

2. Regarding physicists "reinventing the wheel psychology discovered 100 years ago":

a. The article "Fortune Favors the Bold (and the Italicized): Effects of Disfluency on Educational Outcomes" [Oppenheimer et al. (2010)] was authored by *psychologists* at Princeton and Indiana University.

b. Considering the probable insignificance of "difficult-to-read fonts" to higher-order learning relative to "interactive engagement" [Benezet (1935, 1936), Hake (1998a,b)], is the emphasis on fonts actually a flat tire rather than a wheel? - see the signature quote.
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To access the complete 12 kB post please click on <http://bit.ly/cmFMZr>.

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>

"It seems that in education, the wheel (more usually the flat tire) must be reinvented every few decades"
Lee Shulman, as paraphrased by the late Arnold Arons (1986, p. 24):


REFERENCES [All URL's shortened by <http://bit.ly/> and accessed on 31 October 2010.]
Hake, R.R. 2010. "Re: More Difficult to Read Text Leads to Better Retention #2," online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at <http://bit.ly/cmFMZr>. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to various discussion lists and are also online on my blog "Hake'sEdStuff" at <http://bit.ly/c040Lz>.

Oppenheimer, D.M., C.D. Yauman, & E.B. Vaughn. 2010. "Fortune Favors the Bold (and the Italicized): Effects of Disfluency on Educational Outcomes," online at <http://bit.ly/cATcBK>.