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The use of adjunct displays to facilitate comprehension of causal relationships in expository text

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Abstract

We examined whether making cause and effect relationships explicit with an adjunct display improves different facets of text comprehension compared to a text only condition. In two experiments, participants read a text and then either studied a causal diagram, studied a list, or reread the text. In both experiments, readers who studied the adjunct displays better recalled the steps in the causal sequences, answered more problem-solving transfer items correctly, and answered more questions about transitive relationships between causes and effects correctly than those who reread the text. These findings supported the causal explication hypothesis, which states that adjunct displays improve comprehension of causal relationships by explicitly representing a text’s causal structure, which helps the reader better comprehend causal relationships.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Foundations and Secondary Education, College of Education and Human Services, University of North Florida, 1 UNF Drive, Jacksonville, FL, 32224-2645, USA

    Matthew T. McCrudden

  2. Department of Educational Psychology, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, 4505 Maryland Parkway, Box 453003, Las Vegas, NV, 89154-3003, USA

    Gregory Schraw

  3. Department of Psychology, Utah State University, 2810 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT, 84322-2810, USA

    Stephen Lehman

Authors
  1. Matthew T. McCrudden
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  2. Gregory Schraw
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  3. Stephen Lehman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matthew T. McCrudden.

Appendix

Appendix

Appendix A: Airplane flight—the principles of lift

What is needed to cause an aircraft which is heavier than air to climb into the air and stay there? Principles from aerodynamics help explain how upward forces, collectively called lift, act upon the plane when it moves through the air.

To understand how lift occurs, you need to focus on differences between the top and bottom of an airplane’s wing. The cross section of a bird’s wing, a boomerang, and a Stealth bomber all share a shape similar to that of an airplane wing. The top of the wing is shaped differently than the bottom. The curve on the upper surface of the wing is greater than the curve on the bottom surface. As a result, the surface on the top of the wing is longer than the surface on the bottom. This is called an airfoil.

In order to achieve lift, the airplane must move forward. As the airplane moves forward, its wings cut through the air. This allows the air to flow over the wing. The air hitting the front of the wing separates. Some air flows over the wing and some flows under the wing. As the air moves across the wing, the air pushes directly against the wing; or perpendicular to the surface of the wing. The air eventually meets up again at the back of the wing.

Air flows across the top surface of the wing differently than it flows across the bottom surface. The air flowing over the top of the wing has a longer distance to travel in the same amount of time as the air flowing under the wing. As a result, air traveling over the curved top of the wing flows faster than the air that flows under the bottom of the wing.

The air pressure on the top surface of the wing differs from that on the bottom of the wing. When air moves faster its pressure decreases. Therefore the air over the top of the wing is moving faster. As a result, the pressure on the top part of the wing decreases. The top surface of the wing now has less pressure exerted against it than the bottom surface of the wing. The downward force of the faster-moving air on the top of the wing is not as great as the upward force of the slower moving air under the wing and there is a net upward force on the wing—a lift.

The weight of an airplane must be overcome by the lift produced by the wings. If an airplane weighs 700,000 tons, then the lift produced by its wings must be greater than that in order for the airplane to leave the ground. Designing a wing that is powerful enough to lift an airplane off the ground, and yet is efficient enough to fly at high speeds over extremely long distances, is one of the marvels of aircraft technology.

Appendix B: Holisitic causal sequence items Experiment 1 (examples)

  1. 1.

    What would happen to an airplane’s ability to achieve lift if the surface area on the top surface of the wing increased?

    1. a.

      An airplane would achieve lift more rapidly.

    2. b.

      An airplane would achieve lift less rapidly.

    3. c.

      The lift would not be affected.

  2. 2.

    What would happen to an airplane’s ability to achieve lift if the air speed over the top surface of the wing increased?

    1. a.

      An airplane would achieve lift more rapidly.

    2. b.

      An airplane would achieve lift less rapidly.

    3. c.

      The lift would not be affected.

  3. 3.

    What would happen to an airplane’s ability to achieve lift if the concentration of air under the bottom of the wing decreased?

    1. a.

      An airplane would achieve lift more rapidly.

    2. b.

      An airplane would achieve lift less rapidly.

    3. c.

      The lift would not be affected.

Appendix C: Space travel and the human body

When space travel was first considered, it was unknown how the weightless environment of space would influence humans. Primates, whose body systems are very similar to humans, helped pave the way for space travel by providing valuable information about the effects of space travel on living organisms. Much is now known about the effects of space travel on the human body. The body is an extraordinary and complicated system that automatically detects and responds to dramatic environmental changes that surround it, particularly to the lack of gravity. The body is an integrated system, with different parts of the body in constant communication with each other. When an astronaut goes into space, his or her body immediately begins to experience several changes due to the lack of gravity.

Among other things, lack of gravity affects the kidneys. Bones provide structure and stability for the body. The bones of the lower extremities, such as the femur in the leg, oppose the Earth’s gravity. People often think of bones as rigid, unchanging calcium pillars. But bones are actually dynamic living tissues that change in response to the physical stresses placed upon them. Bones are constantly being remodeled through bone cell activities that breakdown old bone and build new bone. Physical activity can stimulate the formation of new bone. Bone is deposited in proportion to the physical load imposed on the bone. For instance, the bones of athletes become much heavier than those of non-athletes. Therefore, continual physical stress stimulates calcification and the production of stronger bones.

During space travel, astronauts are not required to stand and support themselves to create “loading forces” on the bones. A reduction in the amount of physical stress placed on load-bearing bones causes the body to produce fewer bone-building cells. As a result, astronauts typically experience bone loss in the lower halves of their bodies, particularly in the lumbar vertebrae and the leg bones. As you may know, minerals such as calcium are stored in the bones. Bone loss triggers a rise in calcium levels in the blood. The blood is filtered by the kidneys. As the kidneys filter greater amounts of calcium from the blood, the potential for painful kidney stones becomes greater.

Much has been learned about the effects of space on the body during space travel. Successful human exploration of space depends on understanding how the human body is influenced by the environment in outer space. An added benefit of this research is that it can help us understand heath problems faced by people on Earth.

Appendix D: Holisitic causal sequence items Experiment 2 (examples)

  1. 1.

    How would the potential for kidney stones be affected if there was an increase in the amount of calcium in the tissues of the kidneys?

    1. a.

      The potential for kidney stones would increase.

    2. b.

      The potential for kidney stones would decrease.

    3. c.

      There would be no change in the potential for kidney stones.

  2. 2.

    How would the amount of calcium that the kidneys filter from the blood be affected if there was a decrease in the production of bone building cells?

    1. a.

      The amount of calcium that the kidneys filter from the blood would increase.

    2. b.

      The amount of calcium that the kidneys filter from the blood would decrease.

    3. c.

      There would be no change in the amount of calcium that the kidneys filter from the blood.

  3. 3.

    How would calcium levels in the blood be affected if the bones were absorbing less calcium?

    1. a.

      The amount of calcium in the blood would increase.

    2. b.

      The amount of calcium in the blood would decrease.

    3. c.

      There would be no change in the amount of calcium in the blood.

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McCrudden, M.T., Schraw, G. & Lehman, S. The use of adjunct displays to facilitate comprehension of causal relationships in expository text. Instr Sci 37, 65–86 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-007-9036-3

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