The efficiency of instructional support during learner-generated drawing from science text

• Applicant: Dr. Annett Schmeck
• Subject Area: General and Domain-Specific Teaching and Learning
• Term: from 2014 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 257570477

Students reading complex and difficult science texts often have problems with the cognitively highly demanding processes of text comprehension. A possible way to deal with these problems is to use learning strategies such as the learner-generated drawing strategy. When drawing, the students have to translate the verbal text information into a picture that represents spatial relationships among functional elements referred to in the text. If the drawing strategy is accomplished adequately, learning can be improved. Research gives evidence that asking learners to draw pictures as they read a science text can facilitate their learning of the presented material; however, only when implemented in a way that enables learners to generate accurate drawings and that minimizes extraneous cognitive processing. Accordingly, there are studies that did not find evidence for the benefits of the learner-generated drawing strategy. What is common to these studies is that students who drew did not receive any support beyond the instructions to make a drawing describing the main ideas of a text. In contrast, there are several studies showing that drawing has positive effects on learning when some additional instructional support for drawing is included. Thus, benefits of drawing are most likely to be revealed under the condition that instructional support is provided to constrain and structure the drawing activity. One approach to provide instructional support is by adding a drawing prompt during drawing that includes a legend showing all the relevant pictorial elements for drawing and a partly pre-drawn background for learners drawings. An analysis of the efficiency of the drawing prompt, however, remains to be done. Thus, in the planned study, an overall treatment-check of the drawing prompt and a more detailed analysis of both drawing prompt components (legend showing all the relevant elements and a partly pre-drawn background) will be conducted. From a theoretical point of view, the planned study should shed some light onto the question, under which conditions asking learners to draw pictures as they read a science text can improve learning. From a practical point of view, more evidence for the drawing prompt as an efficient instructional support device during learner-generated drawing from science text should be given.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants