ABSTRACT. High school students (N=389) read multiple texts on the topic of American football in a scenario-based learning environment. Learning was evaluated with a pretest-learning-posttest design. Comprehension was evaluated with comprehension questions throughout the learning environment. Topical knowledge and reading ability were also evaluated. Comprehension was the strongest predictor of learning. Those who spent longer time learning learned better. Reading ability and knowledge positively predicted learning. High reading ability compensated for low knowledge in learning.

ABSTRACT. This study explored teachers’ conceptions and assessments of multiple-text integration. Fifty-four language teachers were asked about the aims of multiple-text integration and were invited to evaluate students' integrative essays. Teachers viewed integration as serving multiple aims. The most prevalent aims were developing literacy skills, information processing, and understanding multiple viewpoints. Teachers attended less to aims such as gaining comprehensive and accurate knowledge. Their assessments focused on intertextual linking and writing conventions. They seldom attended to the quality of knowledge transformation. The findings indicate that teachers' conceptions of multiple-text integration are reflected in their assessment practices and suggest a theory-practice gap.

ABSTRACT. We investigated the association between thinking dispositions (need for cognition and actively open-minded thinking) with two outcomes of multiple-texts comprehension: integration of conflicting information and recall of inferential information. The participants were 73 university students who completed questionnaires on control variable measures (perceived knowledge and beliefs) and thinking dispositions, read two contradictory texts, wrote an argumentative essay, and recalled the information read one month later. Argumentative essays were coded by intertextual integration, recalls by number of valid inferences. Need for cognition was indirectly associated with intertextual integration. Actively-openminded thinking was associated with inferences recalled.

ABSTRACT. We investigated how text presentation order affected readers’ intertext inferences between complementary texts and their ability to apply principles to novel situations. Using a think-aloud protocol, participants read a principles text either before or after reading texts that illustrated those principles (example texts). A comparison group did not read the principles text. The principles-text-first group generated more intertext bridges between the principles text and example texts and had higher scores on the post-test than the principles-text-last group or the no principles text group. Reading the principles text first supported deductive inferences and transfer.

ABSTRACT. This study explores how constructing document maps—visual representations of documents models—might support argumentation from multiple documents. To do so, we examined the relationships between ninth-grade students' document maps and document mapping processes and their argumentative essays. We found that students who constructed more detailed and two-sided document maps also wrote more elaborate essays that integrated contrasting positions. The amount of time devoted to map construction was also positively associated with essay quality. The findings suggest that document mapping might support argumentative writing by helping students to represent contrasting claims and reasons while tracking their sources.

ABSTRACT. Science literacy involves both (a) knowing what scientists know and (b) knowing how scientists know what they know. Yet, it is often challenging for learners to reasonably integrate the what and how of science in a way that deepens understanding. Scientists’ explanations undergo certain evaluative processes that increase their perceived truthfulness, but teachers should not assume that students fully engage and are agents in these scientific processes without instructional support. Over the past decade, my research has examined how instructional scaffolding can facilitate scientific thinking when learning about controversial and complex socio-scientific topics (e.g., the current climate crisis and availability of freshwater resources). Results from my collaborative lab—the Science Learning Research Group—suggest that early and late adolescents, as well as adults, can scientifically evaluate connections between evidence and explanations about certain phenomena, especially when these socio-scientific topics have a large gap in what learners and experts find plausible. When considering scientific evidence and explanations, learners should reflect on their own knowledge by engaging in collaborative critique and negotiation during classroom discourse. I will present several studies reflecting these findings and suggest some meaningful ways for educators to scaffold the process of evaluation and reasoned judgments as essential elements of scientific thinking.

This talk will be introduced by Gale M. Sinatra.

ABSTRACT. We investigated whether and how reading goals affect text-based and knowledge-based validation processes and the resulting memory representation. We employed a self-paced sentence-by-sentence contradiction paradigm. Participants read for general comprehension or for study. Memory for text information was assessed the next day. Results show that goals affect readers’ general processing, but they do not affect online validation processes. They did differentially affect readers’ memory for inconsistent target information - depending on the source of the inconsistency. Thus, goals may not influence validation processes themselves, but they may affect the processes that take place after online validation is completed.

ABSTRACT. Research on text-belief consistency effects in L2 reading contexts has been essentially lacking. To partially fill some of the void, we conducted three experiments, which investigated L2 readers’ belief-biased representations of controversial information. In one experiment, we established that L2 readers show purportedly larger text-belief consistency effects. In the second experiment involving a different sample of participants, we established that document language could serve as a credibility cue modulating readers’ representation of the controversial information. In the third experiment, we found that readers’ epistemic beliefs moderate the text-belief consistency effect when L2 readers read multiple controversial documents.

ABSTRACT. Social media users are predominantly exposed to attitude-consistent content, which increases polarization. One potential approach to mitigating this limited exposure is to intentionally seek attitude-inconsistent information. However, it is unclear how exposure to such information influences processing of and memory for controversial information. Thus, we presented participants who varied in attitudes about a controversial topic (i.e., labor unions) with pro-union, anti-union, or neutral Twitter content. Then, participants read a media article that presented pro-union and anti-union information and completed recall measures. Participants who saw attitude-inconsistent Tweets recalled less article content compared to those who saw attitude-consistent Tweets.

ABSTRACT. Individuals frequently encounter vaccination information that vary in source of content as well as language used to communicate this information. These factors may differentially influence individuals’ belief in the information and trust in information sources. We examined how different sources of information (i.e., conservative, liberal, or scientific sources) and the language those sources used (i.e., certainty or tentativeness in stating information) influenced belief in vaccination information and trust in sources across political ideologies. Our findings showed that there is partisanship in belief in vaccine information from scientific institutions and in trust for sources of vaccine claims.

ABSTRACT. Tasks that require partners to closely track perspectives generally benefit from interpersonal alignment. However, it’s unclear whether the benefits of alignment generalize to other tasks. We manipulated task goals to assess the alignment of eye-fixations and spoken language use. Using maps, 17 pairs completed 5 route planning and 5 visual search trials. Pairs exhibited more gaze alignment and used more landmarks in route planning than visual search. Importantly, the effect of alignment on task accuracy depended on task: route planning benefited more from gaze alignment. Therefore, both alignment and complementarity are emerging properties of the interaction that serve task goals.