Interpreting popular reports of science: what happens when the reader's world meets the world on paper?

Abstract

Ninety-one senior high school students were asked to read four popular reports of science. These students were nearing completion of on average four senior high school science courses either in biology, chemistry, or physics, or some combination. The reports were chosen from recent issues of a popular science magazine, a nonscience magazine, and newspaper. Students were asked before reading each report to answer a question about their background beliefs on the topic. After reading each report, they were asked whether they were more certain, less certain, or equally certain of their background beliefs, and what had made up their minds. There was a lack of systematic relationship between students' degree of certainty in their beliefs, and the support that the reports offer for those beliefs, because students tended not to integrate well their background beliefs and text information. Apparently, the students failed to distinguish between their conclusions and the reasons they offered for them.