The Effects of Prompts on Paper-based and Mobile Display-based Learning of Technological Knowledge by School Age

摘要

In recent years, schools have increasingly made use of computers as tools of education. Both paper-and display-based reading are often incorporated into the same lessons. Espesially, mobile computer has become widely used. However, few studies have examined the influence of prompts (boldface, lining, marking, etc.) on students' ability to learn technological knowledge. This study examined the effect of prompts on the understanding of declarative knowledge of technological materials and procedural knowledge of the subject material for two groups of students, seventh grade and university students, and compared the results statistically. Three experiments were conducted to measure how well students learn when they read text with prompts or are asked to add prompts themselves. The results reveal that, in paper-based learning, prompts positively influence learners' understanding of the content materials, particularly in the case of seventh grade students. However, in mobile display-based learning, adding prompts by hand requires some mental energy and, therefore, has not so effective on learning.