Learning more from harder-to-read fonts?
"Smith, Susan N - (snsmith)" <[email protected]> Thu, 2 Jun 2011 13:40:01 -0700
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Hi,
I'm a teacher and have a few weeks to read what I want for a change. I cam=
e across this study (link to story about it, and the actual study, below).
1. In the first study, the test group read items in Bodoni MT italic 6=
0% gray scale or Comic Sans 12 point 60% gray scale. The control group read=
Arial 16-point.
2. In the second study, high school teachers sent their learning mater=
ials to the study, and =BD were made the test groups read things in Haetten=
schweiler, Monotype Corsiva, or Comic Sans italicized in 12-point. Alternat=
ively, some materials were copied by moving the paper up and down while cop=
ying when electronic docs were unavailable. The control group was left in t=
he fonts the teachers themselves chose; those fonts are unnamed.
This is one of the study's conclusions:
This study demonstrated that student retention of material across a wide ra=
nge of subjects (science and
humanities classes) and difficulty levels (regular, Honors and Advanced Pla=
cement) can be significantly improved
in naturalistic settings by presenting reading material in a format that is=
slightly harder to read. While disfluency
appears to operate as a desirable difficulty, presumably engendering deeper=
processing strategies (c.f. Alter et al.,
2007), the effect is driven by a surface feature that prima facie has nothi=
ng to do with semantic processing.
The authors point out that the retention was only for 15 minutes, so there =
may be less pronounced difference in longer terms.
Anyway, it seems odd to me on many, many levels-I wouldn't consider reading=
Arial 16 on a paper as a "fluent" choice. Someone found that a good font =
has about 70 or fewer characters in a line (Schriver's Dynamics in Document=
Design, p. 263). They also don't mention leading. They don't cite reason=
s that Arial 16 point was used, either.
I'd be interested in what Info-D folk think of this kind of study. I am so=
metimes amazed at how blithely unaware some fields are about design.
Thanks,
Sue Smith
Economist Article about the Study:
http://web.princeton.edu/sites/opplab/papers/Diemand-Yauman_Oppenheimer_201=
0.pdf
Actual Study
http://web.princeton.edu/sites/opplab/papers/Diemand-Yauman_Oppenheimer_201=
0.pdf
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nk=3Dpurple><div class=3DWordSection1><p class=3DMsoNormal>Hi,<o:p></o:p></=
p><p class=3DMsoNormal>I’m a teacher and have a few weeks to read wha=
t I want for a change.=A0 I came across this study (link to story about it,=
and the actual study, below).<o:p></o:p></p><p class=3DMsoNormal><o:p>&nbs=
p;</o:p></p><p class=3DMsoListParagraph style=3D'text-indent:-.25in;mso-lis=
t:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style=3D'mso-list:Ignore'>1.<s=
pan style=3D'font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> <=
/span></span><![endif]>In the first study, the test group read items in Bod=
oni MT italic 60% gray scale or Comic Sans 12 point 60% gray scale. The con=
trol group read Arial 16-point. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=3DMsoListParagraph>=
<o:p> </o:p></p><p class=3DMsoListParagraph style=3D'text-indent:-.25i=
n;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style=3D'mso-list:Ign=
ore'>2.<span style=3D'font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>  =
; </span></span><![endif]>In the second study, high school teachers s=
ent their learning materials to the study, and =BD were made the test group=
s read things in Haettenschweiler, Monotype Corsiva, or Comic Sans italiciz=
ed in 12-point. Alternatively, some materials were copied by moving the pap=
er up and down while copying when electronic docs were unavailable. The con=
trol group was left in the fonts the teachers themselves chose; those fonts=
are unnamed.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=3DMsoListParagraph><o:p> </o:p></=
p><p class=3DMsoNormal>This is one of the study’s conclusions:<o:p></=
o:p></p><p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'margin-left:.25in;text-autospace:none=
'><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:bl=
ack'>This study demonstrated that student retention of material across a wi=
de range of subjects (science and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=3DMsoNormal=
style=3D'margin-left:.25in;text-autospace:none'><span style=3D'font-size:1=
1.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>humanities classes) and=
difficulty levels (regular, Honors and Advanced Placement) can be signific=
antly improved<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'margin-le=
ft:.25in;text-autospace:none'><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"=
Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>in naturalistic settings by presenting rea=
ding material in a format that is slightly harder to read. While disfluency=
<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'margin-left:.25in;text-=
autospace:none'><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-s=
erif";color:black'>appears to operate as a desirable difficulty, presumably=
engendering deeper processing strategies (c.f. </span><span style=3D'font-=
size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#000066'>Alter et al.,<o=
:p></o:p></span></p><p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'margin-left:.25in;text-au=
tospace:none'><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-ser=
if";color:#000066'>2007</span><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"=
Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>), the effect is driven by a surface featu=
re that prima facie has nothing to do with semantic processing.<o:p></o:p><=
/span></p><p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'margin-left:.25in'><o:p> </o:p=
></p><p class=3DMsoNormal>The authors point out that the retention was only=
for 15 minutes, so there may be less pronounced difference in longer terms=
.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=3DMsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=3DMsoNor=
mal>Anyway, it seems odd to me on many, many levels—I wouldn’t =
consider reading Arial 16 on a paper as a “fluent” choice.=A0 S=
omeone found that a good font has about 70 or fewer characters in a line (S=
chriver’s <i>Dynamics in Document Design</i>, p. 263).=A0 They also d=
on’t mention leading.=A0 They don’t cite reasons that Arial 16 =
point was used, either.=A0 <o:p></o:p></p><p class=3DMsoNormal><o:p> <=
/o:p></p><p class=3DMsoNormal>I’d be interested in what Info-D folk t=
hink of this kind of study.=A0 I am sometimes amazed at how blithely unawar=
e some fields are about design.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=3DMsoNormal><o:p>&nb=
sp;</o:p></p><p class=3DMsoNormal>Thanks,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=3DMsoNorma=
l><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=3DMsoNormal>Sue Smith<o:p></o:p></p><p clas=
s=3DMsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=3DMsoNormal>Economist Article a=
bout the Study:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=3DMsoNormal><a href=3D"http://web.pr=
inceton.edu/sites/opplab/papers/Diemand-Yauman_Oppenheimer_2010.pdf">http:/=
/web.princeton.edu/sites/opplab/papers/Diemand-Yauman_Oppenheimer_2010.pdf<=
/a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=3DMsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=3DMsoN=
ormal>Actual Study<o:p></o:p></p><p class=3DMsoNormal><a href=3D"http://web=
.princeton.edu/sites/opplab/papers/Diemand-Yauman_Oppenheimer_2010.pdf">htt=
p://web.princeton.edu/sites/opplab/papers/Diemand-Yauman_Oppenheimer_2010.p=
df</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=3DMsoNormal><span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt;f=
ont-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></=
p></div></body></html>=
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