Learning Reading Strategies for Science Texts in a Gaming Environment: iSTART vs iTG

在游戏环境中学习科学文本阅读策略：iSTART 与 iTG

• 批准号: 1153822
• 负责人: Danielle McNamara
• 金额: $ 8.76万
• 依托单位: Arizona State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-08-16 至 2012-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1153822&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Learning; Reading; Strategies; Science; Texts

It is well known that many students find science text challenging to comprehend. Students' reading ability is partly to blame. Reading problems become most apparent when the student is faced with a challenging text for which they have knowledge deficits. Science text, in particular, has many technical terms that are difficult to ground in everyday experience. Thus, there is a need for reading comprehension interventions to improve science comprehension. This project compares the effectiveness of two types of tutoring environments in improving high-school students' ability to understand challenging science text. Both environments contain the same pedagogical content, but present it differently: as a lesson or as a game. The first environment, developed and tested over the past 5 years, is an automated reading strategies tutor called iSTART (Interactive Strategy Training for Active Reading and Thinking) that uses animated pedagogical agents to deliver interactive instruction on self-explanation and reading strategies (comprehension monitoring, paraphrasing, generating inferences). Instruction occurs in three stages with each stage requiring increased interaction on the part of the learner. Results across a wide range of studies indicate that iSTART is highly effective in improving students' ability to understand challenging science text. While effective, iSTART can be somewhat unappealing to an average high-school student in extended practice situations. While students need extended practice to master the strategies, iSTART becomes monotonous over time. To increase students' engagement, an alternative version of iSTART practice will be developed that allows students to practice iSTART strategies in a game environment. iSTART-The Game (iTG) will present the same reading strategy practice to students, but will incorporate game-based principles to enhance engagement. This project examines whether a gaming environment for learning strategies for science text comprehension more effectively sustains students' attention and engagement during training, and thereby results in improved acquisition and mastery of these strategies. In the first year of funding, an automated reading strategy tutoring system that is framed in a gaming environment will be developed. In Year 2, pilot studies will be conducted to refine the system. In Year 3, practice using the strategies will be compared in three conditions: iTG, iSTART, and a control condition. Students will practice the strategies over a period of five additional sessions after the initial training. This experiment will provide information on the potential value of iTG over time and specifically, whether iTG engages students over repeated practice sessions. The potential interactive effects of individual differences such as prior science knowledge, reading skill, and motivational levels will also be examined.This research will contribute to better understanding of engagement as a factor in learning gains. It is predicted by the investigators that many students who do not find the standard tutoring environment sufficiently engaging will significantly benefit from the alternative approach. Most importantly, this instructional intervention should be especially valuable for those students most at risk due to having lower ability and interest in science. This research will accomplish the goal of creating a test-bed learning environment intended to improve reader engagement and advance our understanding of the potential instructional gains from such environments. The project will contribute to our understanding of the relationship between game features and engagement. It will provide students with tools that help them more effectively meet the challenges of learning from difficult science texts. In addition, this research will contribute to our understanding of the roles that cognition and emotion play in fostering learning, the specific processes involved with learning from science texts, and the complex interplay of factors such as reading strategies, knowledge, reading skill, interest, and motivation.

众所周知，许多学生发现科学文本很难理解。学生的阅读能力是部分原因。当学生面对具有挑战性的文本时，阅读问题就会变得最明显，因为他们有知识缺陷。特别是科学文本，有许多难以在日常经验中扎根的技术术语。因此，需要阅读理解干预来提高学生的科学理解能力。本项目比较了两种类型的辅导环境在提高高中生理解具有挑战性的科学文本的能力方面的有效性。这两种环境都包含相同的教学内容，但呈现方式不同：是作为课程还是作为游戏。第一个环境是在过去5年里开发和测试的，名为iSTART（主动阅读和思考的互动策略训练）的自动阅读策略导师，它使用动画教学代理来提供自我解释和阅读策略（理解监控、释义、生成推理）的互动指导。教学分三个阶段进行，每个阶段都需要学习者加强互动。广泛的研究结果表明，iSTART在提高学生理解具有挑战性的科学文本的能力方面非常有效。虽然iSTART很有效，但对于一个普通的高中生来说，在长时间的练习中可能有点没有吸引力。虽然学生需要大量的练习来掌握策略，但iSTART随着时间的推移变得单调。为了提高学生的参与度，将开发iSTART实践的替代版本，允许学生在游戏环境中练习iSTART策略。iSTART-The Game （iTG）将为学生提供相同的阅读策略练习，但将结合基于游戏的原则来提高参与度。本项目考察了科学文本理解学习策略的游戏环境是否更有效地维持了学生在训练期间的注意力和参与度，从而提高了这些策略的习得和掌握。在资助的第一年，将开发一个基于游戏环境的自动阅读策略辅导系统。在第二年，我们将进行试点研究，以完善该系统。在第三年，使用这些策略的练习将在三种情况下进行比较：iTG， iSTART和控制条件。在最初的训练之后，学生将在另外的五节课中练习这些策略。这个实验将提供关于iTG随着时间推移的潜在价值的信息，特别是iTG是否会在重复的练习中吸引学生。个体差异（如先前的科学知识、阅读技能和动机水平）的潜在交互影响也将被检查。这项研究将有助于更好地理解投入是学习收益的一个因素。研究人员预测，许多学生认为标准的辅导环境没有足够的吸引力，他们将从替代方法中显著受益。最重要的是，这种教学干预应该对那些由于能力和对科学的兴趣较低而面临风险的学生特别有价值。这项研究将实现创建一个试验台学习环境的目标，旨在提高读者的参与度，并促进我们对这种环境中潜在教学收益的理解。该项目将有助于我们理解游戏功能与用户粘性之间的关系。它将为学生提供工具，帮助他们更有效地应对学习困难的科学文本的挑战。此外，本研究将有助于我们理解认知和情感在促进学习中的作用，从科学文本中学习的具体过程，以及阅读策略、知识、阅读技巧、兴趣和动机等因素的复杂相互作用。