Abstract
This article presents a comparison of two physics school texts from the perspective of readability and use of specific terms. The study uses the survival function to associate the readability of physics school text to the length of terms used in the text. First, the study compares the survival functions of two full texts and that of the terms in these texts, and then analyzes the associated relative readability. Next, the results of two cloze tests involving 150 students are compared. The last step investigates the randomness of the differences between the results. The results show a strong correlation between the test scores and the probability distributions of terms used in the school texts. The difference between the probability distribution of the compared texts corresponds with the differences between the appropriate survival functions, where random fluctuations in the frequency of terms are suppressed.
Highlights
Because of fewer classes today than previously, current physics students need greater access to textbooks than ever for learning to remain effective
Despite the improvements mentioned above, little differences in readability were evident between the texts, 2r (Demkanin, 2010) and 3r (Pecho, 1994) (Figure 1)
2r: Physics for 2nd grade on high school text (Demkanin 2010); 3r: Physics for 3rd grade on high school text (Pecho 1994); L the length of words; P: the probability that a given word has at least the length of L Source: Author Figure 2: Difference between two survival functions of school texts - full text
Summary
Because of fewer classes today than previously, current physics students need greater access to textbooks than ever for learning to remain effective. For effective study with fewer classes more emphasis is placed on home study. In the time of the internet, information is accessible. Finding appropriate information, especially in readable text form, is problematic. The readability of school texts is the first and foremost precondition for a valid study hour
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