Refutation Text Facilitates Learning: a Meta-Analysis of Between-Subjects Experiments

• Published in: Educational psychology review Vol. 34; no. 2; pp. 957 - 987
• Main Authors: Schroeder, Noah L., Kucera, Aurelia C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.06.2022; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Between-subjects design; Child and School Psychology; Concept Formation; COVID-19; Education; Educational aspects; Educational Change; Educational Environment; Educational Methods; Educational Psychology; Educational Strategies; Errors, Popular; Evaluation; Learning; Learning and Instruction; Learning strategies; Literature Reviews; Long Term Memory; Memory; Meta Analysis; Methods; Misconceptions; Persuasive Discourse; Prior Learning; Public Health; Science; Scientific Concepts; Short Term Memory; Teaching Methods; Text Structure; United States; Conceptual change; Learning; Refutation text; Refutation; Meta-analysis
• ISSN: 1040-726X; 1573-336X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10648-021-09656-z

Scientific misconceptions are ubiquitous, and in our era of near-instant information exchange, this can be problematic for both public health and the public understanding of scientific topics. Refutation text is one instructional tool for addressing misconceptions and is simple to implement at little cost. We conducted a random-effects meta-analysis to examine the effectiveness of the refutation text structure on learning. Analysis of 44 independent comparisons ( n  = 3,869) showed that refutation text is associated with a positive, moderate effect ( g  = 0.41, p  < .001) compared to other learning conditions. This effect was consistent and robust across a wide variety of contexts. Our results support the implementation of refutation text to help facilitate scientific understanding in many fields.