This study investigates text readability level investigation about biology subjects-related units in 'Science 7 Textbook'. A document analysis method was used in this study based on a qualitative research approach. The textbook, which has been used since the 2019-2020 academic year, has been selected as the study material. In the textbook, a total…

Textbooks are an important source of knowledge input on which the transmission of academic knowledge often relies, especially in the early stages of academic learning. Adopting a corpus-based approach, this study evaluates the text difficulty of science textbooks used in secondary English-medium instruction schools in Hong Kong, with a focus on…

Background: During digital reading on internet-connected devices, students may be exposed to a variety of on-screen distractions. Learning by reading can therefore become a fragmented experience with potentially negative consequences for reading processes and outcomes. Objectives: This study investigated the effects of on-screen distractions, as…

College biology courses commonly use diagrams to convey information. These visual representations are embedded in course materials with the expectation that students can comprehend and learn from them. Educational research, however, suggests that many students have difficulty understanding diagrams and the conventions (e.g., labels, arrows) they…

A 2 (learning strategies: diagram vs. summary) × 2 (levels of expertise: low vs. high) experiment was conducted to compare the effectiveness of using diagrams to writing summaries for students given biological information to learn and who possessed different levels of expertise in that topic area. A main effect of learning strategy used on number…

Reading to learn is a quintessentially self-regulated activity. In order to provide effective support for this activity it is necessary for us to understand how students adapt their self-regulation behaviors within disciplinary reading environments. In this paper, we utilize student response data from a digital literacy platform to examine the…

Purpose: Complex features of science texts present idiosyncratic challenges for middle grade readers, especially in a post-Common Core educational world where students' learning is dependent on understanding informational text. The primary aim of this study was to explore how middle school readers process science texts and whether such…

This qualitative analysis of small-group book discussions documents how bilingual third-grade students interacted around informational books at their reading levels and books one year ahead of their reading levels. The interactions included: answering the teacher, building on previous ideas, asking questions, introducing new topics, answering own…

Applying artificial intelligence (AI) to support science learning is a prominent aspect of the digital education revolution. This study investigates students' interaction and learning with an AI book, which enables the inputting of questions and receiving of suggested questions to understand biology, in comparison with a traditional E-book.…

Teachers balance many goals when selecting texts for small-group reading. The author explored the impact of one variable that teachers consider, quantitative text difficulty, on students' participation, discussion, comprehension, and fluency in small-group discussions of informational science texts. Six bilingual third graders identified as…

University educators work with preservice teachers who often feel overwhelmed when facing high school science classrooms full of reluctant readers. These struggling students often have various special-education modifications or are English language learners (ELLs) with different degrees of language proficiency. Teachers report that these students…

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of imagination and learner-generated drawing on comprehension, reading time, cognitive load, and eye movements, and whether prior knowledge moderated the effects of these two strategies. Sixty-three undergraduate students participated in a pretest-posttest between-subjects study with the…