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Abstract
This study investigated how varying the lexical encodings of technical terms in multiple texts influences learners' dyadic processing of scientific-related information. Fifty-seven pairs of college students read journalistic texts on depression. Each partner in a dyad received one text; for half of the dyads the partner's text contained different lexical encodings of the same concepts; for the other half the lexical encodings and texts were identical. They then read a case report on first signs of depression. Communicating via a chat room, each dyad had to write a causal diagnosis and suggest a treatment. Results showed that dyads in the different-encoding condition explicitly elaborated the meaning of technical terms more often, produced more differentiated answers, and acquired more knowledge. It is concluded that deliberately switching different words for the same underlying content, and engaging students in discussion of that content, influences learners' discourse and promotes scientific/conceptual understanding.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research was supported by a grant awarded to the first author within Special Priority Program SPP 1409 of the German Research Foundation (DFG; JU 471-2/1). We thank Daniela Göttlicher, Anna Sundermann, Katharina Seiler, and Nikolas Henrion for their help with data collection and analysis and Jonathan Harrow for improving our English. We especially thank several colleagues for their encouraging support throughout our submission: Marc Stadtler and Rainer Bromme as editors of this special issue and Marlene Scardamalia and Susan Goldman as executive editors.