The use of cognitive psychology in the development and evaluation of textbooks
- 1 January 1981
- journal article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Educational Psychologist
- Vol. 16 (2) , 83-100
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00461528109529232
Abstract
The major memory representations produced by reading a textbook chapter are described. These include (a) single propositions, (b) integrations and elaborations of two or more propositions, and (c) a chapter summary. Research that bears on each of these aspects of memory for textbook information is used to select 15 dimensions for evaluating a textbook's potential for facilitating representations in memory. These dimensions are then quantified for samples from three educational psychology textbooks. The dimensions appear to be useful for evaluating a text's strengths and weaknesses.Keywords
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