Number Lines Can Be More Effective at Facilitating Adults' Performance on Health-Related Ratio Problems than Risk Ladders and Icon Arrays
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| Title: | Number Lines Can Be More Effective at Facilitating Adults' Performance on Health-Related Ratio Problems than Risk Ladders and Icon Arrays |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Marta K. Mielicki, Charles J. Fitzsimmons, Lauren K. Schiller, Dan Scheibe, Jennifer M. Taber, Pooja G. Sidney, Percival G. Matthews, Erika A. Waters, Karin G. Coifman, Clarissa A. Thompson |
| Source: | Grantee Submission. 2022. |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 57 |
| Publication Date: | 2022 |
| Sponsoring Agency: | Institute of Education Sciences (ED) |
| Contract Number: | R305U200004 |
| Document Type: | Reports - Research |
| Education Level: | Higher Education Postsecondary Education |
| Descriptors: | Visual Aids, Health, Decision Making, Number Concepts, Thinking Skills, College Students, Problem Solving, Mathematics Skills, COVID-19, Pandemics, Health Behavior, Prevention, Statistics Education, Graphs, Literacy |
| DOI: | 10.1037/xap0000456 |
| Abstract: | Visual displays, such as icon arrays and risk ladders, are often used to communicate numerical health information. Number lines improve reasoning with rational numbers but are seldom used in health contexts. College students solved ratio problems related to COVID-19 (e.g., number of deaths and number of cases) in one of four randomly-assigned conditions: icon arrays, risk ladders, number lines, or no accompanying visual display. As predicted, number lines facilitated performance on these problems -- the number line condition outperformed the other visual display conditions, which did not perform any better than the no visual display condition. In addition, higher performance on the health-related ratio problems was associated with higher COVID-19 worry for oneself and others, higher perceptions of COVID-19 severity, and higher endorsement of intentions to engage in preventive health behaviors, even when controlling for baseline math skills. These findings have important implications for effectively presenting health statistics. [This paper will be published in "Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied."] |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| IES Funded: | Yes |
| Entry Date: | 2024 |
| Accession Number: | ED639246 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | Visual displays, such as icon arrays and risk ladders, are often used to communicate numerical health information. Number lines improve reasoning with rational numbers but are seldom used in health contexts. College students solved ratio problems related to COVID-19 (e.g., number of deaths and number of cases) in one of four randomly-assigned conditions: icon arrays, risk ladders, number lines, or no accompanying visual display. As predicted, number lines facilitated performance on these problems -- the number line condition outperformed the other visual display conditions, which did not perform any better than the no visual display condition. In addition, higher performance on the health-related ratio problems was associated with higher COVID-19 worry for oneself and others, higher perceptions of COVID-19 severity, and higher endorsement of intentions to engage in preventive health behaviors, even when controlling for baseline math skills. These findings have important implications for effectively presenting health statistics. [This paper will be published in "Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied."] |
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| DOI: | 10.1037/xap0000456 |
