Stage 2 Registered Report—You've Got Some Explaining to Do: Effects of Explanation Prompts on Science Text Comprehension

ABSTRACT The use of active comprehension strategies that encourage students to explain what they have read can improve students' comprehension of complex scientific texts. Most research has focused on either strategies that are engaged during reading (online) or those used after reading (offline)—often ignoring potential interactions that might occur in authentic learning. This study used a 2 (online: think‐aloud, self‐explain) × 3 (offline: reread, free recall, explanatory retrieval) design with a 7‐day delayed comprehension test to examine how explanatory prompts might affect comprehension. Analyses from this Stage 2 Registered Report revealed a main effect of online condition, but no main effect offline condition. This was qualified by an interaction such that retrieval of any kind supported the comprehension benefits of self‐explanation. These findings highlight the importance of considering how comprehension strategies interact and the conditions under which they are most effective.