1. ` Disciplined Reading, Disciplined Learning VISUAL COMPREHENSION: COGNITIVE PROCESSING OF ART TEXT BY PRE-ADOLESCENT AND ADOLESCENT READERS Sandra M. Loughlin, Patricia A. Alexander, Daniel L. Dinsmore, and Emily E. Fox The focus of this study is to examine how "reading" art text maps onto what we know about reading traditional text. We are using think aloud protocols to analyze the processing of pre-adolescent and adolescent readers comprehending art texts. Participants' preliminary think-aloud data reveals nine traditional text comprehension processes, including higher-level processes like elaborating and inferring. These preliminary results indicate that reading and art comprehension processes are in fact similar, and that art may provide fertile ground for practicing higher-level comprehension strategies. IN THEIR OWN WORDS: KOREAN STUDENTS' ACADEMIC WRITING DEVELOPMENT IN AN ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE WRITING CLASS Soo Eun Chae, Patricia A. Alexander, and Joshua Magda We were particularly interested in the effect that students' participation in orchestrated experiences (i.e., college courses) designed expressly to promote their academic development for second language learners over the semester. Analysis of multiple sources (i.e., field notes, blogs, interviews, work samples, teacher feedback, and focus group interactions) revealed how differently each individual change over time. UNDERGRADUATES’ INDEPENDENT AND SCAFFOLDED READING OF COURSE TEXTS: FURTHER EVIDENCE OF FRAGILE UNDERSTANDING Emily Fox, Daniel L. Dinsmore, Liliana Maggioni, and Patricia A. Alexander This investigation explored undergraduates’ fragile understanding of reading. Our 12 participants, undergraduates studying research methods, read textbook passages presenting new (Independent) and previously encountered (Scaffolded) material. Learning outcomes were assessed. Students’ approach to these passages, revealed in their think-alouds, was consistently related to their learning outcomes. Knowledge Reliant and Effortful readers required scaffolding to learn from the text, or failed even then. Reading approaches were also related to final course grades, indicating the significant consequences of students’ fragile understandings of reading. ONE OF THESE TEXTS IS NOT LIKE THE OTHER: HELPING STUDENTS THINK MORE DEEPLY ABOUT WHAT THEY READ Daniel L. Dinsmore Different types of text may require different types of processing and strategies for students. In this experiment, we investigated students monitoring and use of strategies while they read informational text and persuasive text (text with an argument). We examined monitoring and strategies in multiple ways along with their knowledge and interest in the topic. We found differences in these texts, particularly in the ability of the students to monitor how much they had learned from each of the texts WALKING ON THE BORDERS: A MEASURE OF EPISTEMIC COGNITION IN HISTORY Liliana Maggioni, Bruce VanSledright, and Patricia Alexander This exploratory study builds on literatures related to the development of epistemic cognition, research on historical thinking, and studies of individuals’ epistemic beliefs. It was designed to explore, develop, and test a measure of epistemic cognition in history. The questionnaire was administered to elementary teachers and college history professors and represents an effort to construct a reliable and valid measure that could effectively monitor changes in epistemic cognition across large samples. Results showed that experts’ beliefs are compatible with the theoretical model we chose as reference, while responses from elementary teachers suggested that novices may entertain epistemic beliefs in history more complex than what hypothesized by the model derived from the literature. “WHAT DID I LEARN?” AND “HOW DID I DO?” THE RELATION BETWEEN METACOGNITION AND WORD LEARNING Meghan M. Parkinson The purpose of this study was to investigate that relation between metacognition and word learning for competent readers. These primary question of the study was: Do undergraduates’ better at assessing what they learned and how well they did actually learn more words? Participants read six passages from the works of Edgar Allan Poe and Washington Irving and after each passage, judged their comprehension of the passage and the target words. Finally, participants were required to define the target words and then rate their performance. Preliminary results indicate that the higher students' rate themselves on what they learned, the greater their gains in word knowledge; suggesting they are metacognitively aware of their level of word learning. IDENTIFYING THE PLAY INTERESTS OF YOUNG CHILDREN Jan Jablonski and Patricia A. Alexander This project examines preferred play activities which are not domain-specific. Four methods for identifying preferred play activities are being evaluated for a group of 38 four and five- year olds. The methods are direct observation during free play at school, and interviews of children, parents, and teachers. Results will be subjected to quantitative and qualitative analysis in order to evaluate the reliability of each method as a way to identify preferred play activities. PEER COLLABORATION: THE RELATION BETWEEN DISCOURSE AND LEARNING Fielding I. Winters and Patricia A. Alexander This study investigated the relation between how much high-school students were able to learn about a complex system, the human circulatory system, using a hypermedia encylopedia with a peer, and the learning behaviors of those students. Results revealed significant correlations between students’ behaviors (as evidenced in their verbal discourse) and their learning gains. Qualitative analyses revealed particular behaviors that large-gain students engaged in to a greater extent than small-gain students.