Processing of scientific information in online discourse

Scientific findings on the Internet are not only dealt with individually but also through communication with others. This project addresses these social exchanges and examines the role of online discourse on understanding and handling conflicting scientific findings. To elaborate on and question information are two features of discourse that have been found to impact the development of knowledge. Building on recent studies (Kuhn & Crowell, 2011), we planned two experiments to find out how this behavior can be supported in discourses on scientific information. Thus, for example, participants might be prompted to counter-argue the presented scientific information or to reflect upon the perspective of the other person. On a methodological level, the project will promote analysis methods for online discourse. The applied setting is teachers’ web search for scientific information. The search for information involves the use of science-related information from online journals and communication with another person (via online chat). The goal of the search is to give a information-based response to a parental request. Thus, in addition to the discourse data the developed knowledge and the answer given to the parental requests are included as a dependent measures.

Publications:

Thiebach, M., Mayweg-Paus, E., & Jucks. R. (in press). Better Agree or Disagree? – How Taking Perspectives Impacts on Critical Thinking and Argumentation. Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie/ German Journal of Educational Psychology.

Jucks, R., & Mayweg-Paus, E. (Guest Eds.) (in press). Learning through communication. How arguing about scientific information contributes to learning (Special issue). Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie/German Journal of Educational Psychology.

Mayweg-Paus, E., & Macagno, F. (in press). How dialogic settings influence evidence use in adolescent students. Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie/German Journal of Educational Psychology.

Mayweg-Paus, E., Macagno, F., & Kuhn, D. (in press). Developing argumentation strategies in electronic dialogs: Is modeling effective? Discourse Processes. doi:10.1080/0163853X.2015.1040323

Thiebach, M., Mayweg-Paus, E., & Jucks, R. (in press). Better to agree or disagree? – The role of critical questioning and elaboration in argumentative discourse. Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie/German Journal of Educational Psychology.

Thiebach, M., Mayweg-Paus, E., & Jucks, R. (2015). “Probably true” says the expert: How two types of lexical hedges influence students’ evaluation of scientificness. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 30(3), 369-384. doi:10.1007/s10212-014-0243-4

Macagno, F., Mayweg-Paus, E., & Kuhn, D. (2014). Argumentation theory in education studies: coding and improving students’ argumentative strategies. Topoi. An International Review of Philosophy, 34(2), 523-537. doi:10.1007/s11245-014-9271-6

Mayweg-Paus, E., & Jucks, R. (2014). Evident or doubtful? How lexical hints in written information influence laypersons’ understanding of influenza. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 20(8), 989-996. doi:10.1080/13548506.2014.986139

Deiglmayr, A., Paus, E., McCall, C., Mullins, D., Berthold, K., Wittwer, J., Krämer, N., & Rummel, N. (2013). Towards an integration of the learning perspective and the communication perspective in computer-supported instructional communication. Journal of Media Psychology, 25(4), 180-189. doi:10.1027/1864-1105/a000101

Jucks, R., & Paus, E. (2013). Different words for the same concept: Learning collaboratively from multiple documents. Cognition and Instruction, 31(2), 497-518. doi:10.1080/07370008.2013.769993

Jucks, R., & Paus, E. (2012). What makes a word difficult? – Insights into the mental representation of technical terms. Metacognition & Learning, 7, 91-111. doi:10.1007/s11409-011-9084-6

Paus, E., & Jucks, R. (2012). Common ground? How the encoding of specialist vocabulary impacts on peer-to-peer online discourse. Discourse Processes, 49(7), 565-598.

Paus, E., Werner, C.S., & Jucks, R. (2012). Learning through online peer discourse: Structural equation modeling points to the role of discourse activities in individual understanding. Computers & Education, 58, 1127-1137. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2011.12.008

Paus, E., & Jucks, R. (2011). Depressive or just in a bad mood? Laypersons’ assumptions about their knowledge of medical vocabulary. Studies in Communication Sciences, 11(1), 51-70.

Paus, E., Gerhards, G., & Jucks, R. (2010). Delinquent or criminal? How to foster conceptual understanding of technical terms in computer-mediated collaborative learning. In K. Gomez, L. Lyons, & J. Radinsky (Eds.). Learning in the Disciplines: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS 2010). Chicago IL: International Society of the Learning Sciences, (pp. 516-523).

Paus, E., & Jucks, R. (2009). Words and meaning. How the lexical encoding of technical concepts contributes to their mental representation. In N. Taatgen, H. van Rjn, L. Schomaker, & J. Nerbornne (Eds.), Proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 496-501).

 

Conference Contributions:

Mayweg-Paus, E., Thiebach, M. & Jucks, R. (2015, Juni). Better agree or disagree? The role of perspective taking in argumentation. Presentation held at the 1st European Conference on Argumentation, Lisbon, Portugal.

Mayweg-Paus, E., Zimmermann, M., Thiebach, M. & Jucks, R. (2015, August). Discourse = Interactive? How to support interactive learning activities in online discourse. Presentation held at the 16th Biennial Conference Earli, Cyprus, Greece.

Thiebach, M., Mayweg-Paus, E., & Jucks, R. (2015, März). There is always more than one perspective! How to foster critical and elaborated scientific argumentation. Poster presented at the REASON International Spring School “Measuring Scientific Reasoning and Argumentation”, München.

Thiebach, M., Mayweg-Paus, E. & Jucks, R. (2015, September). „Das mag sein, aber …!“ – Die Rolle von kritischem Hinterfragen und Elaborieren im argumentativen Diskurs. Vortrag bei der 15. Tagung der Fachgruppe Pädagogische Psychologie, Kassel.

Thiebach, M., Mayweg-Paus, E., & Jucks, R. (2015). There is always more than one perspective! How to foster critical and elaborated scientific argumentation. Poster presented at the REASON International Spring School “Measuring Scientific Reasoning and Argumentation”, München.

Paus, E. & Jucks, R. (2013). “This could be a new approach against the flu…” – References to tentativeness and sources of scientific knowledge and their impact on decision processes. Poster presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science  Society, Berlin, Germany.

Thiebach, M., Paus, E. & Jucks, R. (2013). The wording matters: On the impact of references to tentativeness in written information. 8. Fachgruppentagung Medienpsychologie, Würzburg.

Paus, E. & Jucks, R. (2011). Do lexical overlaps hamper conceptual understanding? A study of online discourses for learning. Presentation held at the 21th International Conference of the Society for Text and Discourse, Poitiers, France.

Paus, E., Kulessa, A., & Jucks, R. (2011). This is almost clear: How single words point to the fragility of scientific evidence. Presentation held at the Conference “Public Understanding and Public Engagement with Science”,  New York, USA.

Paus, E., Kulessa, A., & Jucks, R. (2011). “Verhaltenstherapie könnte helfen” – Die Verarbeitung fragiler Informationen aus multiplen Dokumenten. Vortrag auf der 13. Tagung der Fachgruppe Pädagogische Psychologie der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie, Erfurt, Deutschland.

Jucks, R. & Paus, E. (2010). Multiple perspectives on multiple documents. Insights from studies on online-discourse for learning. Presentation at the Workshop Comprehending multiple documents on the Internet: The road to the public engagement with science in the 21 century, Muenster.

Jucks, R. & Paus, E. (2010). Sind das Symptome einer Depression? Der Einfluss von Fachsprache auf den Umgang mit wissenschaftsbezogenen Informationen im Online-Diskurs. Vortrag auf dem 47. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie, Bremen.

Paus, E. & Jucks, R. (2010). Comprehending specialist language: What does the lexical encoding of a specialist concept convey to the recipient? Presentation at the 4th biennal meeting of the EARLI SiG Metacognition, Münster.

Paus, E. & Jucks, R. (2010). Delinquent or criminal?  How to foster conceptual understanding of technical terms in computer-mediated collaborative learning. Presentation held at the 9th International Conference for the Learning Sciences, Chicago, USA.

Paus, E., Werner, C. & Jucks, R. (2010). Indikatoren und Determinanten für 
gemeinsames Verständnis beim kollaborativen Lernen im Netz. Vortrag auf dem 47. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie, Bremen.

Jucks, R. (2009). On the role of specialist terms in expert-layperson-interactions and collaborative learning dyads. Invited presentation at the preconference workshop “Readability: cognitive and computational approaches” at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Text and Discourse, Rotterdam.

Paus, E. & Jucks, R. (2009). Words and meaning. How the lexical encoding of technical concepts contributes to their mental representation. Poster presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Amsterdam, NL.

Paus, E. & Jucks, R. (2009). Understanding words: How the lexical encoding of technical concepts impacts on their perceived comprehension. Poster presentation at the International Conference of the Society for Text and Discourse 2009, Rotterdam, NL.

Paus, E. & Jucks, R. (2009). Understanding and using specialist language: subjective and objective measures and the impact on learning activities. Presentation at the 13th European Conference for Research in Learning and Instruction, Amsterdam.

Paus, E. & Jucks, R. (accepted). Understanding and using specialist language: subjective and objective measures and the impact on learning activities. Presentation to be held at the 13th Biennial Conference Earli 2009, Amsterdam, NL.

Paus, E. & Jucks, R. (accepted). Words and meaning. How the lexical encoding of technical concepts contributes to their mental representation. Poster to be presented at the 31th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society 2009, Amsterdam, NL.

Paus, E. & Jucks, R. (accepted). Understanding words: How the lexical encoding of technical concepts impacts on their perceived comprehension. Poster to be presented at the International Conference of the Society for Text and Discourse 2009, Rotterdam, NL.

 

Applicant 1
Prof. Dr. Regina Jucks
Psychologisches Institut V:
Psychologie in Bildung und schulischer Erziehung
Fachbereich Psychologie und Sportwissenschaft
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität
Fliednerstr. 21
48149 Münster
0251/83-39495
jucks@uni-muenster.de
Website
Forschungsschwerpunkte/-interessen
Conceptions about teaching and learning/university didactic
Collaborative computer-supported learning
Writing to learn
Web-based knowledge communication/online communication
Learning with texts and diagrams
Communication and counseling in learning scenarios

Applicant 2
Dr. Elisabeth Anna Paus
Psychologisches Institut V:
Psychologie in Bildung und schulischer Erziehung
Fachbereich Psychologie und Sportwissenschaft
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität
Fliednerstr. 21
48149 Münster
0251/83-31402
e.paus@uni-muenster.de
Website
Forschungsschwerpunkte/-interessen
Computer-supported cooperative Learning (CSCL)

Staff
Dipl.-Psych. Monja Thiebach
Psychologisches Institut V:
Psychologie in Bildung und schulischer Erziehung
Fachbereich Psychologie und Sportwissenschaft
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität
Fliednerstr. 21
48149 Münster
0251/83-34155
monja.thiebach@uni-muenster.de
Website

 


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