Reading Time as Evidence for Mental Models in Understanding Physics

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written by David T. Brookes, Jose P. Mestre, and Elizabeth Stine-Morrow

We present results of a reading study that show the usefulness of probing physics students' cognitive processing by measuring reading time. According to contemporary discourse theory, when people read a text, a network of associated inferences is activated to create a mental model. If the reader encounters an idea in the text that conflicts with existing knowledge, the construction of a coherent mental model is disrupted and reading times are prolonged, as measured using a simple self-paced reading paradigm. We used this effect to study how "non-Newtonian" and "Newtonian" students create mental models of conceptual systems in physics as they read texts related to the ideas of Newton's third law, energy, and momentum. We found significant effects of prior knowledge state on patterns of reading time, suggesting that students attempt to actively integrate physics texts with their existing knowledge.

Physics Education Research Conference 2007
Part of the PER Conference series
Greensboro, NC: August 1-2, 2007
Volume 951, Pages 65-68

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Published: November 12, 2007

Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Education Foundations - Cognition = Cognition Development - Communication = Reading - Research Design & Methodology Education Practices - Active Learning = Modeling	- Lower Undergraduate - Graduate/Professional	- Reference Material = Research study

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Mirror:: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2820948
Access Rights:: Limited free access and
Available by subscription and
Available for purchase
Restriction:: © 2007 2007 American Institute of Physics.
DOI:: 10.1063/1.2820948
PACS:: 01.40.Fk 01.40.Ha
Keywords:: PERC 2007, cognitive processing, discourse theory, education, learning by example, mental model, physics, reading time, student experiments
Record Cloner:: Metadata instance created June 3, 2009 by Jenny Rempel
Record Updated:: July 16, 2013 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update when Cataloged:: November 12, 2007
Other Collections:: The PER-Central

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<a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/items/detail.cfm?ID=9049">Brookes, D, J. Mestre, and E. Stine-Morrow. "Reading Time as Evidence for Mental Models in Understanding Physics." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2007, Greensboro, NC, August 1-2, 2007.</a>

AIP Format

D. Brookes, J. Mestre, and E. Stine-Morrow, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2007, Greensboro, NC, 2007, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9049&DocID=1980).

AJP/PRST-PER

D. Brookes, J. Mestre, and E. Stine-Morrow, Reading Time as Evidence for Mental Models in Understanding Physics, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2007, Greensboro, NC, 2007, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9049&DocID=1980>.

APA Format

Brookes, D., Mestre, J., & Stine-Morrow, E. (2007, August 1-2). Reading Time as Evidence for Mental Models in Understanding Physics. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2007, Greensboro, NC. Retrieved April 25, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9049&DocID=1980

Chicago Format

Brookes, D, J. Mestre, and E. Stine-Morrow. "Reading Time as Evidence for Mental Models in Understanding Physics." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2007, Greensboro, NC, August 1-2, 2007. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9049&DocID=1980 (accessed 25 April 2024).

MLA Format

Brookes, David T., Jose P. Mestre, and Elizabeth Stine-Morrow. "Reading Time as Evidence for Mental Models in Understanding Physics." Physics Education Research Conference 2007. Greensboro, NC: 2007. 65-68 Vol. 951 of PER Conference. 25 Apr. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9049&DocID=1980>.

BibTeX Export Format

@inproceedings{ Author = "David T. Brookes and Jose P. Mestre and Elizabeth Stine-Morrow", Title = {Reading Time as Evidence for Mental Models in Understanding Physics}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2007}, Pages = {65-68}, Address = {Greensboro, NC}, Series = {PER Conference}, Volume = {951}, Month = {August 1-2}, Year = {2007} }

Refer Export Format

%A David T. Brookes %A Jose P. Mestre %A Elizabeth Stine-Morrow %T Reading Time as Evidence for Mental Models in Understanding Physics %S PER Conference %V 951 %D August 1-2 2007 %P 65-68 %C Greensboro, NC %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9049&DocID=1980 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2007 %O August 1-2 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Conference Proceedings %A Brookes, David T. %A Mestre, Jose P. %A Stine-Morrow, Elizabeth %D August 1-2 2007 %T Reading Time as Evidence for Mental Models in Understanding Physics %B Physics Education Research Conference 2007 %C Greensboro, NC %V 951 %P 65-68 %S PER Conference %8 August 1-2 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9049&DocID=1980

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