This article examines the research on different levels of questions inserted in prose. The first section defines the level of questions and presents a number of theoretical issues. The second section discusses methodological issues in research, such as inadequate directions to subjects. The final section provides recommendations for further…

A look at an experiment using prose in which questions are categorized as 1) active; or 2) passive. (HB)

Two experiments were performed to determine whether questions inserted after prose passages initiate reviews which facilitate retention of the information in memory. Results suggest that the backward review is not attributed to a retrieval phenomenon but to a strengthening of memory traces at the time of the probe. (Author/GK)

Defining mathemagenics as adjunct aids that can be used in textual situations to enhance learning, this paper places a new perspective on mathemagenics research as well as on practical considerations derived from that research. Specifically, the paper addresses two questions: (1) Which explanatory concepts--degree of processing, selective…

Interest in mathemagenics (adjunct aids used in text to enhance learning) has most likely resulted from the indirect effects of inserted postquestions, whereby the learning of unquestioned material is enhanced as well as that of questioned material. However, since most mathemagenics research has occurred in laboratory settings in which subjects…

The effect of supplementary questions on learning from textual materials was investigated in a sample of 94 college juniors. Each subject was given a 1,500-word passage describing the concept of measurement. One treatment group was asked to identify characteristics of the concept; another was asked to identify examples from the text; a third…

This study investigated the effect on learning of the interspersing of questions with sections of written discourse. A 5,200-word passage was divided into seven sections, from each of which several completion questions were derived. A pair of questions was inserted before, after, or both before and after the section. These questions also formed an…

A sample of 208 students from grades ten through twelve were randomly assigned to one of four groups in a study of the effects of multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and constructed modes of response to embedded questions on the learner's ability to answer application-type questions. The three experimental groups received five instructional…

This study extended concepts derived from Rothkopf's mathemagenic hypothesis to problem solving. While previous mathemagenic research has established that adjunct questions interspersed with written prose facilitates learning, it has been criticized as educationally nonsignificant because the research has focused on verbatim learning. To test…

In a series of experiments, it was found that asking questions about information in a prose sequence while it is being presented can affect the degree to which that prose material is stored as a unitized whole, and that this in turn will affect how well that prose is remembered. (Editor)

College students read prose passages and answered either verbatim or paraphrased inserted questions while reading under review or no review conditions. On a posttest students who received paraphrased questions outperformed students who received verbatim questions. This result supported the contention that paraphrased adjunct questions could…

Research from four subareas of prose learning (advance organizers, response modes, objectives, and inserted questions) is considered and weaknesses in the studies conducted are noted. Suggestions are advanced as to how researchers might profitably spend their energies in the future. (RC)

College students read passages and answered either verbatim or parphrased adjunct questions either inserted in the text or massed at the end of the passage. Passage review was varied. On the post-test containing unfamiliar paraphrased questions, students given inserted paraphrased adjunct questions outperformed the others. Paraphrased questions…

This study investigated the effects of training in the use of advance organizers and interspersed questions on the comprehension and attitudes of good, average, and poor eighth-grade readers who were randomly assigned, by intact classroom units, to one of three treatment groups. The first treatment group received eight sessions of training in the…