Digitale ondersteuning bij het lezen van geschiedenisteksten in het VO: Welk effect hebben hints op de prestaties van leerlingen?

Recent research shows that the use of digital learning environments (DLEs) has a positive effect on secondary students’ reading comprehension performance (Cheung & Slavin, 2012). This research project uses a DLE to support students when reading informational history texts. 7th-grade students (N = 228) in different research conditions either did or did not have the opportunity to open hints with cognitive instruction during reading. Results show significantly better performance scores in the third intervention week for the students who received this opportunity compared to students who were unable to click on hints. Also, students in the experimental condition who actually opened the hints scored significantly better at the posttest than students who did not click on any hint. Finally, the experimental group that was able to click on hints scored higher on questions aimed at subject-specific skills, such as perspective taking, explaining events, or formulating research questions. Support during reading informational texts seems to have a positive effect on students’ reading comprehension performance in history classes.