DOCUMENT RESUME ED 398 570 CS 012 591 AUTHOR Reinking, David; Watkins, Janet TITLE A Formative Experiment Investigating the Use of Multimedia Book Reviews To Increase Elementary Students' Independent Reading. Reading Research Report No. 55. INSTITUTION National Reading Research Center, Athens, GA.; National Reading Research Center, College Park, MD. SPONS AGENCY Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED), Washington, DC. PUB DATE 96 CONTRACT 117A20007 NOTE 100p. PUB TYPE Reports Research/Technical (143) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC04 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Book Reviews; *Classroom Environment; Classroom Research; Grade 4; Grade 5; *Independent Reading; *Instructional Effectiveness; Intermediate Grades; *Multimedia Materials; Reading Research; *Teacher Role ABSTRACT Using an approach to classroom research that D. Newman (1990) has termed a formative experiment, a study investigated the effects of engaging elementary school students in creating computer-based multimedia reviews of books they read independently. Formative experiments are designed to investigate how an instructional intervention can be implemented to achievea pedagogical goal in a particular educational environment. Creating multimedia book reviews was the intervention; increasing the amount and diversity of students' independent reading was the pedagogical goal. Diverse quantitative and qualitative data were gathered during 2 academic years in 9 4th-grade and 5th-grade classroomsacross 3 schools. Consistent with the intent of formative experiments, results are presented guided by the following questions:(1) What factors in the educational environment enhance or inhibit the intervention's effectiveness in achieving the pedagogical goal?;(2) How can the intervention and its implementation be modified during the experiment to achieve more effectively the pedagogical goal?;(3) What unanticipated positive or negative effects does the intervention produce?; and (4) Has the educational environment changed as a result of the intervention? Results indicated that the multimedia book review activity contributed to achieving the pedagogical goal of increasing the amount of children's independent reading; and school environments and teachers' roles to some extent shaped the effects of the activity. Findings suggest that formative experiments can address the limitations of conventional research methods previously used to study computer-based literacy activities in classrooms. (Contains 64 references, and 4 tables and 11 figures of data. Appendixes presents parent and teacher questionnaires.) (Author/RS) A Formative Experiment Investigating the Use of Multimedia Book Reviews to increase Elementary Students' Independent Reading David Reinking Janet Watkins University of Georgia U.S. DEPARTMENT OFEDUCATION Office of Educational Research andImprovement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproducedas received from the person ororganization originating it. Minor changes have been madeto improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated inthis document do not necessarilyrepresent official OERI position or policy. National Reading Research Center READING RESEARCH REPORT NO. 55 Summer 1996 2 BEST COPY AVAILABLE NRRC National Reading Research Center A Formative Experiment Investigating the Use of Multimedia Book Reviews to Increase Elementary Students' Independent Reading David Reinking Janet Watkins University of Georgia READING RESEARCH REPORT NO. 55 Summer 1996 The work reported herein is a National Reading Research Project of the University of Georgia and University of Maryland.It was supported under the Educational Research and Development Centers Program (PR/AWARD NO. 117A20007) as administered by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education. The findings and opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the position or policies of the National Reading Research Center, the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, or the U.S. Department of Education. 3 NRRC National Reading Research Center Executive Committee National Advisory Board Donna E. 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