The role of embedded questions and caregiver-child extratextual talk during book reading for children’s integration of science facts Open Access
Williams, Bethany M. (Spring 2023)
Abstract
Integrating separate but related facts to self-derive new information is vital in building a semantic knowledge base. This research asks how young children learn from science books by evaluating the relation between embedded questions in children’s books, integration in extratextual talk during caregiver-child STEM book reading, and child integration of paired science facts. By connecting the literatures of shared book reading and integration, this research sheds light on how children derive new knowledge from shared book reading. We observed as caregiver read a book containing six integratable fact pairs to their 5- to 7-year-old children. One book condition contained embedded questions, or questions included in the text of the book on the content being presented, while another did not. Extratextual talk, or any conversation between parties during shared book reading outside of the text of the book, was recorded throughout shared book reading. The children were then tested on their ability to remember the integrated facts. The findings revealed that Quality of Integration in Extratextual Talk is significantly higher when the book contains embedded questions than when it does not. They also revealed that Quality of Integration was significantly positively correlated with integration testing performance, so that higher Quality of Integration in shared book reading predicted better integration testing performance. There was no significant relationship between embedded questions and integration performance. These findings connect the literatures of integration and shared book reading and hold educational significance for science learning in young children.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Integration 1
Shared Book Reading 4
Integration and Shared Book Reading 6
Present Research 7
Method 8
Participants 8
Stimuli and Design 10
Procedure 12
Data Reduction and Analysis 14
Results 16
Embedded Questions and Integration Testing Performance 17
Embedded Questions and Integration in Extratextual Talk 17
Integration in Extratextual Talk and Integration Testing Performance 18
Exploratory Analysis of Integration in Extratextual Talk by Fact Type and Order 19
Discussion 20
Novel Contributions 23
Remaining Questions 24
Limitations and Future Directions 25
Conclusion 28
References 30
Tables 38
Table 1: Integratable Stem Fact Pair Examples and Testing Examples 40
Table 2: Quality of Integration Scoring Scale and Examples 41
Table 3: Coding Examples 42
Table 4: Quality of Integration and Accuracy Scores by Fact Type and Order 43
Table 5: Highest Quality of Integration Score by Fact Type and Order 44
Figures 45
Figure 1: Proposed Mediation Model 45
Figure 2: Frequency of Quality of Integration Scores by Condition 46
Appendices 49
Appendix A: Example Day from Test Book “Rosie’s Adventures at School” 49
Appendix B: Open-Ended and Forced-Choice Integration Testing Questions 51
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