story by Claire Miller
College of Education & Human Development Assistant Professor Katie McCarthy received a $50,000 Spencer Foundation grant to study how combining different types of learning strategies might improve science text comprehension.
This grant project, entitled, “Examining Interactions Between Online and Offline Explanation Strategies in Science Comprehension,” will ask participants to read short scientific passages using a combination of learning techniques – some that take place during reading and others that happen just after they finish reading.
McCarthy will not only assess participants’ memory for information, but also their ability to comprehend what’s presented in the passage.
“The purpose of this work is to systematically examine how these strategies can be used in concert to afford optimal, real world learning outcomes,” she wrote in the grant.
The Spencer Foundation supports high-quality investigation of education through its research programs and is committed to strengthening and renewing the educational research community through its fellowship and training programs and related activities. For more information about their grant programs, visit https://www.spencer.org.