Support for Interdisciplinary Training in Discourse to Transform Educational Research and Build Capacity

University Of Illinois At Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

Funds are requested to support graduate student and new Ph.D. travel stipends and three training workshops on cutting-edge methods for research on comprehension and discourse analysis that will immediately precede the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Society for Text & Discourse, to be held in Poitiers, France, from July 11-13, 2011. Discourse analysis can make invaluable contributions to the creation and investigation of effective educational contexts, including the design of instructional materials and technologies, and developing an understanding how students interact with them. Supporting this training opportunity will build critical capacity for future educational research in STEM fields. One of the bedrock questions for STEM education is how comprehension is achieved. A number of methodological approaches in text and discourse processing research can contribute to answering this question. The planned workshops are on a set of methodologies that will advance research on the processes underlying comprehension and intelligent tutors that can support learning in educational settings including STEM domains.