LIBRI DI GISELLA PAOLETTI

The purpose of this experimental research was to analyze the possibility of stimulating student text comprehension through a guided exploration of an amusing TV cartoon that is also difficult to be fully comprehended, using the attractiveness of dynamic images as a resource for improving text compre hension. 38 students of an Italian Secondary School participated to the study. They were 15 years old on average. A group of 19 student received a training for processing the cartoon comprehension difficulties, and was helped in detecting and making the required bridging inferences. A multimedia comprehension post test verified a significant difference between the two groups. The educational implications of the research concern the possibility of using interesting and motivating material for the enhancing text comprehension . The educational treatment performed gave the students the opportunity to acquire a special learning strategy that consists of consciously making the processes that good comprehenders of both written text and audiovisual narratives automatically and correctly are used to make.

Comprendere informazioni complesse con i multimedia. Quando l'immagine è a pop-up - We examined the consequences of a visualization pattern often chosen by web sites which show textual information within the web pages and the related iconic information within pop-up windows. The information visualization in pop-up windows aims to integrate text and pictures but makes difficult the analysis of both information resources. We conducted an experiment in which 80 participants read on a computer screen a text with embedded graphs either near (to the related textual information) or far (from it), plus graphs were integrated in the text or within pop-up windows. The reading behaviour of participants was observed to establish who, among them, examined the graphs and who did not. The recall for textual and iconic information was measured using a recall questionnaire. Our pattern of data shows a student’s tendency to ignore graphs, in particular when they are visualized in pop-up windows. These results are confirmed by interviews to undergraduate students who analyzed the same materials using thinking aloud method.