The Effect of Learner-Generated Drawing and Imagination in Comprehending a Science Text

ABSTRACT

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 independent variable being the instructional strategies with three levels (learner-generated drawing vs. imagination vs. repeated reading). The results revealed that, compared to repeated reading, learner-generated drawing fostered learners' comprehension when their prior knowledge was relatively low. Moreover, when asked to read the science text after the intervention, learners who were previously engaged with imagination spent significantly more time reading the text, and fixated longer and more frequently than those in the repeated reading condition.

KEYWORDS:

• Instruction
• instructional design/development
• learning processes/strategies
• learning theory/model
• learning environments

Acknowledgments

This research was partially supported by the Shanghai Pujiang Program (13PJC031), Shanghai Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science (2014JJY001), Shanghai “Chen Guang” Project (12CG27), and Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, State Education Ministry, China.