Promoting Active Reading Strategies to Improve Students' Understanding of Science

本课题所要解决的问题是高中生对高难度科学文本的理解和学习能力。本项目的第一个目的是调查高中学生和教师对元认知阅读策略的了解情况，以更好地确定策略干预的必要性，以及教师为学生提供这种培训的能力。第二个目的是比较三种阅读干预的有效性，从而找出更有效的方法来提高学生的理解能力。第三个目的是确定阅读干预的好处是否取决于学生的技能、知识或文化环境。第四个目的是开发一个计算机化的训练计划，该计划可以自适应地为学生分配适当的训练制度，并交互式地提供阅读训练。因此，该项目连接了IERI倡议的两个重点领域，即阅读技能的习得和学生对日益复杂的科学思想的理解。在这些领域内，本项目将解决以下问题：阅读教学实践、教师学习和学生学习表现的作用、对面临阅读或学业失败风险的学生的最佳干预措施、开发更好的知识和技能评估技术，以及利用技术改善评估和学习。

The problem addressed by this project regards high-school students' understanding of and ability to learn from difficult science texts. The first purpose of this project is to examine high school students' and teachers' knowledge about metacognitive reading strategies to better ascertain the need for strategy interventions, as well as teachers' ability to provide such training to students. The second purpose is to compare the effectiveness of three reading interventions and to thereby identify more effective methods for improving students' comprehension skills. The third purpose is to determine whether the benefits of reading interventions depend on students' skills, knowledge, or cultural environment. The fourth purpose is to develop a computerized training program that adaptively assigns a student to an appropriate training regime, and interactively provides reading training. Hence, this project bridges the two focus areas of the IERI initiative concerning reading skill acquisition and students' understanding of increasingly complex scientific ideas. Within these areas, this project will address issues regarding instructional practices in reading, the role of teacher learning and performance on student learning, optimal interventions for students at-risk of reading or academic failure, the development of better assessment techniques of knowledge and skill, and the use of technology to improve assessment and learning.