The effects of source representation and goal instructions on college students' information evaluation behavior change

We investigated ways of scaffolding information evaluation behavior (IEB) in online inquiry contexts. Previous instructional support simplified IEB and rarely critically addressed the cognitive load that accompanies multiple representations or naïve task perception that hinders critical evaluation. We conducted a longitudinal, 2 × 2 quasi-experimental study in an introductory college biology course, varying (A) Source Representation Scaffolds to address limited cue awareness and cognitive load and (B) Goal Instructions to address task perception. For treatment A, students were given an annotation tool in addition to a checklist (Control A). For treatment B, instead of persuasion goal instructions (Control B), written task directions prompted student to consider alternative ideas (balanced reasoning goals). We measured students' IEB four times. We also measured individual task perception and cognitive capacity. Multilevel analyses identified the specific nature of changes in IEB. On average, IEB did not improve much in the baseline group while task perception and cognitive capacity differentiated IEB scores. Conversely, both annotation and balanced reasoning goals yielded improved gains in IEB, but there was a negative interaction effect when they were combined. The results demonstrate the benefits of annotation and balanced reasoning goals but suggest the need to address possible difficulties in using multiple scaffolds.