|
Anne Britt, Ph.D. |
I
do really cool research about how people comprehend, evaluate and write
arguments. In earlier work, our research team found significant deficits in
college students’ ability to comprehend, evaluate, and produce arguments. The
source of these deficits was traced, and three tutorials were developed that
provide instruction and practice to improve these argument skills. Each
tutorial has been shown to be effective in overcoming particular deficits. In
our current project we are developing computer-based instructional modules to
improve their argument comprehension and production skills. These modules
will be available online as stand-alone lessons and as a course presented in
the context of a simple role playing game. In
collaboration with Charles Perfetti, Gareth Gabrys, and Mara Georgi, I developed a java application, the
Sourcer's Apprentice, to train high-school students to better attend to
source information in citation. Go to a short demo of
the Sourcer's Apprentice . I am
part of the Discourse
and Technology group here at NIU. We are always looking for new
people to work with. Check it out! |
Courses:
Cognitive Psychology (Psyc 345)
Instructional Psychology (Psyc 614X)
Advanced Statistics (Psyc 604)
Education:
B.S. Psychology,
M.S. Cognitive Psychology,
Ph.D. Cognitive Psychology,
Research interests:
Argument comprehension and production.
Technology and literacy education.
Integration of semantic information across multiple documents.
Learning and reasoning from multiple documents.
Service:
Standing member
on the grant panel for Basic
Processes Panel (IES), U.S. Department of Education (2006-2008).
Member of grant review panels: 2003-2008.
Expert panel: OECD-sponsored international survey of adult literacy "Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies" (2008-2009).
Editorial board for Journal of Educational Psychology (2008-2009).
Developed Getting Into Graduate School Seminar
(GIGSS) to help majors figure out the maze of applying to grad school (Fall
2008-Spring 2009).
Co-taught graduate seminar on Learning from multiple documents at the University of Oslo, Institute for Educational Research (2008).
Steering committee member for Society for Text and Discourse (2005-2011).
Steering committee member for Society For Computers In Psychology (2004-2006).
Faculty advisor to the Student Psychological
Association (2004-2009).
Grants:
Acquiring Research Investigative and Evaluative Skills (ARIES) for Scientific Inquiry R305B070349 (2007-2011). $1,986,743.00 from the U.S. Department of Education. PI: Keith Millis. Co-PI’s with, Katja Wiemer, and Joe Magliano..
Recruitment and Retention of Minority Role
Models in Science and Engineering through Improving Critical Thinking Skills
and Scientific Understanding $297,600
from the U.S. Department of Education. Keith Millis PI, CO-PIs with Katja
Wiemer, and Joe Magliano.
Creating a Usable Environment to Teach
Argument Comprehension and Production Skills (2005-2008). $574,931 from
the U.S. Department of Education.
Improving students comprehension and
construction of arguments
(2002-2005). $358,876 from the
U.S. Department of Education.
Testing a model of situation recognition (January 2002 - September 2004). $100,000
for research contract from Sandia National Laboratories. Co-PI’s with Joe
Magliano and John Skowronski.
Argument Comprehension and Production in college students (6/02 -6/03). NIU Social Science Research
Institute Faculty Fellowship.
Wolfe, C.R., Britt, M.A.,
Petrovic, M., Albrecht, M., & Kopp, K. (Accepted). The efficacy of a
web-based counterargument tutor. Behavior
Research Methods.
Wolfe, C.R., Britt, M.A., & Butler, J.A. (2009). Argumentation Schema and the Myside Bias in Written Argumentation. Written Communication. (PDF)
Strømsø, H.I., Bråten, I., & Britt, M.A. (2009). Reading multiple texts about climate change: The relationship between memory for sources and text comprehension. Learning and Instruction. (PDF)
Larson, A.A., Britt, M. A.,
& Kurby, C. (Accepted). Improving students’ evaluation of informal
arguments. Journal of Experimental Education.
Bråten, I., Strømsø, H.I., & Britt, M.A. (2009). Trust matters: Examining the role of source evaluation in students’ construction of meaning within and across multiple texts. Reading Research Quarterly, 44(1), 6–28. (PDF)
Durik, A.M., Britt, M.A.,
Reynolds, R., & Storey, J.K. (2008). The effects of hedges in persuasive
arguments: A nuanced analysis of language. Journal of Language and Social
Psychology, 27 (3), 217-234. (PDF)
Britt, M. A., Kurby, C. A.,
Dandotkar, S., & Wolfe, C.R. (2008). I agreed with what? Memory for simple
argument claims. Discourse Processes, 45(1), 52-84. (PDF)
Wolfe, C.R. & Britt,
M.A. (2008). The locus of the Myside Bias in written argumentation. Thinking and Reasoning, 14(1),
1–27. (PDF)
Magliano, J.P., Skowronski,
J., Britt, M.A, Guss, D., & Forsythe, C. (2008). What do you want? How
perceivers use cues to make goal inferences about others. Cognition, 106, 594–632.
Coutinho,
S., Wiemer-Hastings, K., Skowronski, J.J., & Britt, M.A. (2005).
Metacognition, need for cognition and use of explanations during ongoing
learning and problem solving. Learning
and Individual Differences, 15(4), 321-337.
Kurby,
C.A., Britt, M.A., & Magliano, J.P. (2005). The role of top-down and
bottom-up processes in between-text integration. Reading Psychology, 26(4-5), 335-362. (PDF)
Britt, M.A., & Sommer, J. (2004).
Facilitating textual integration with macro-structure focusing task. Reading
Psychology, 25, 313 - 339.
(PDF)
Britt, M.A., Wiemer-Hasting, P., Larson, A.,
& Perfetti, C.A. (2004). Automated feedback on source citation in essay
writing. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education,
14(3-4), 359 – 374. (PDF)
Larson, M., Britt, M.A., & Larson, A.
(2004). Disfluencies in comprehending argumentative texts. Reading
Psychology, 25(3), 205-224. (PDF)
Britt, M.A., & Gabrys, G. (2004).
Collecting responses through Web page drag and drop. Behavior Research
Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 36(1), 52-68.
Sagarin, B. J., Britt, M. A., Wood, S.,
Heider, J., & Lynch, J. (2004). Intrusive technology: Bartering and
stealing consumer attention. In W. R. Walker, & D. K. Herrmann (Eds), Cognitive
technology: Essays on the transformation of thought and society (pp.
69-88). Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers..
Sagarin, B. J., Britt, M. A., Wood, S.,
Heider, J., & Lynch, J. (2003). Bartering Our Attention: The Distraction
and Persuasion Effects of On-Line Advertisements. Cognitive Technology, 8(3).
Britt, M.A. & Larson, A. (2003).
Construction of argument representations during on-line reading. Journal of Memory and Language, 48(4),
749-810.
Britt, M.A., & Aglinski, C. (2002).
Improving student’s ability to use source information. Cognition and
Instruction, 20(40), 485-522.
Britt, M.A., & Gabrys, G. (2002).
Implications of document-level literacy skills for web-site design. Behavior
Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 34(2), 170-176.
Britt, M.A., & Gabrys, G. (2001). Teaching advanced literacy skills for
the World Wide Web. In Wolfe, Christopher R. (Ed). Learning and teaching on
the World Wide Web (pp. 73-90). San Diego, CA, US: Academic Press.
Britt, M.A., Perfetti, C.A., Van Dyke, J.,
& Gabrys, G. (2000). The
Sourcer’s Apprentice: A Tool for Document-Supported History Instruction. To
appear in P. Stearns (Ed.), Knowing,
Teaching and Learning History: National and International Perspectives. New
York: NYU Press.
Labs:
Discourse technology group
Argument understanding
Sourcer's Apprentice
M. Anne Britt (britt@niu.edu )
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