Abstracts - Earli

was natural selection and animal evolution, while the second involved 94 5th graders studying thetopic of light and vision. In both studies epistemic beliefs were measured by means of selfreportedquestionnaires, and students were assigned to two reading conditions. In one conditionthey read a refutational text, while participants in the other read a traditional text. Within eachreading condition students had more or less advanced beliefs about the nature of scientificknowledge. In the second study they also had high or low topic interest. As hypothesized, in thefirst study greater conceptual change was produced by students who read the refutational text andbelieved more in complex and uncertain knowledge. In the second study, students who attained thehighest scores at both the immediate and delayed post-test were those who read the refutationaltext and had high topic interest as well as more constructivist beliefs about scientific knowledge.Furthermore, in the first study greater metaconceptual awareness of the change in theirconceptions was expressed by students who read the refutational text and those who were moresophisticated in their epistemic thinking. Theoretical and educational implications will be drawn.Attention allocation, background knowledge and the refutation text effectSuzanne H. Broughton, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USAGale M. Sinatra, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USARalph E. Reynolds, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USAThis study examined the influence of the selective attention strategy (SAS) on reading refutationaltext. According to the SAS, readers learn important information because they allocate extraattention to certain text elements. Attention allocation may be an indicator of the level ofengagement the reader has with the information to be learned and may account for the power ofrefutational text in promoting conceptual change. Undergraduate college students (N=48) wereassigned to read either a refutational or a non-refutational text. Both texts introduce the same topic(seasonal change). Individual participants’ reading times were tracked and recorded sentence-bysentencein order to examine the effects of the SAS on the processing of refutational text andpromoting conceptual change. A one-way ANCOVA was conducted to compare reading timesbetween the refutation text group and the non-refutation text group. Reading rate andcomprehension were used as the covariate. The results show a significant difference in time spentreading the refutational paragraph [F(2,45) = 4.86, pless time processing the refutational text. Bothtext types showed learning effects with participants in both groups scoring higher on the seasonsconcept inventory at both the post-test and delayed post-test. These findings illustrate that therefutation effect may be due to the "schema slot" notion that refutational material may be easier toread because it serves as an advance organizer, activates background knowledge, and providesclear, concrete, compelling examples for the reader. A second study to be completed and includedin this presentation will extend Study I by interviewing participants after reading the text passages.Tracing the process of conceptual change in reading science textMirjamaija Mikkila-Erdmann, University of Turku, FinlandErkki Anto, University of Turku, FinlandMarjaana Penttinen, University of Turku, FinlandThe purpose of this study is to examine the process of conceptual change while reading sciencetext. Thirty sixth graders read a text concerning photosynthesis. Both eye tracking and videomaterial were used together with written pre- and post-tests. This study showed tendencies that aconcept called look from time functions as an indicator of cognitive conflict while reading sciencetext. Thus if the reader experiences cognitive conflict, he might try to solve the problem by leavingthe critical part of the text, reading previous text, coming back to the critical part and then– 485 –