Novice Importance Rules: Definitions and Equations

摘要

The study complements research indicating that content area novices judge importance in texts according to sentence type category (e.g., whether sentences are definitions, facts, equations, etc.). Subjects varying in expertise judged the importance of sentences in physics texts when they were presented in one of two forms: definitions or facts (Experiment 1), and equations or verbal formulae (Experiment 2). The two sentence versions were always identical in substantive content. Experts and subjects without physics training judged these variants similar or equal in importance. However, beginning physics students judged definition and equation versions as more important. Thus sentence form is a salient text feature for beginning-level students, who have developed general rules about what categories of information are important in physics. Sentence category is irrelevant for experts, who have rich content schemas allowing them to judge importance directly. Sentence category also has little effect on people without physics training, who lack strong expectations regarding what types of information are important. These results have theoretical implications for understanding content schema development, and practical implications for textbook writers.