The Role of the Narrative Framing and Latent Meaning Structures of Online Information Used by Medical and Economics Students in Their Generic and Domain-Specific Critical Online Reasoning
Background and Study Focus
In the Information Age, students increasingly learn with online sources. In these sources, content is “framed” in a particular way through narrative devices (e.g. metaphors) and latent meaning structures. Such framing can influence the search for online information as well as its critical processing, as became evident in previous studies concerning the solving of generic (GEN) and domain-specific (DOM) tasks to measure critical online reasoning (COR). Hence, students need specific skills to recognize such latent frames.
Concept and Research Objective
Based on preliminary research, B06 aims to (1) analyze the narrative and latent meaning structures of the online information used by students (when solving the COR tasks); and (2) study whether students recognize these latent structures, i.e., are aware of narrative and meaning structures. In this way, B06 investigates so-called ‘narrative skills’ in students’ learning through the Internet; (3) examine whether narratives and meaning structures influence the COR process (e.g., the selection of information), and (4) longitudinally investigate the role of students’ narrative skills for their solving of GEN- and DOM-COR-tasks in medicine and economics. (5) Based on these findings, B06 further aims to develop a framework for interventions designed to enhance students’ COR by considering their narrative skills.
Measurements and analyses
B06 combines the qualitative method of narratology with reconstructive hermeneutics and draws on the approaches of narrative medicine and narrative economics. Based on the longitudinal subdata set from C07, B06 analyzes the online sources and content used by students to solve COR tasks. The process of students’ task-solving is reconstructed step-by-step, to identify whether students recognized the framings present in the sources. The analysis of students’ response processes is supported through the analysis of eye-tracking data and think-aloud protocols (together with C07).
Research Outcomes
B06 retraces students’ COR task-solving process and describes the role that narrative skills may potentially have in this process. Therefore, B06 first identifies narratives and meaning structures, which can hamper or stimulate students’ COR processes and performance. These analyses and findings provide a solid basis for the conceptual development of interventions to foster students’ COR skills (in the 2nd research phase).
Contribution within the research unit CORE
B06 cooperates with B04 and B05 in the analysis of the information landscape and in identifying important influences in online sources, which may be especially challenging for students. With the help of a detailed analysis of student responses and task-solving processes, B06 generates hypotheses for recalibrating the COR-tasks of the A-projects.
Publications
Peer Reviewed Articles
Schelle, C., Nell-Müller, S., & Braunheim, D. (in press). Des étudiants résolvent des tâches à l’aide d’informations tirées d’Internet – Potentiels d’analyses qualitatives dans le contexte de l’objet-frontière et du ‘boundary crossing.
Schelle, C., Banerjee, M., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., Touzos, A. A., & Braunheim, D. (in press). Critical handling of online information by prospective teachers: A complementary analysis using narration and reconstruction approaches. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning.
Schelle, C., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., Banerjee, M., Braunheim, D., & Touzos, A. A. (2025). Zum kritischen Umgang Studierender mit Internetinformationen – Analysen mittels Rekonstruktion und Narratologie in digitalen Umgebungen. Zeitschrift für Bildungsforschung, 15(3).
Touzos, A. A., Laufer, A., Banerjee, M., & Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O. (2024). The role of website narratives in young professionals’ critical online reasoning. In O. Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, M.-T. Nagel, V. Klose, & A. Mehler (Eds.), Students’, graduates’ and young professionals’ critical use of online information (pp. 67–95). Springer.
Braunheim, D., Köttering, L., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., & Nagel, M.-T. (2024). Specifics of sourcing challenges in the law domain: A comparative analysis of search approaches when solving a legal case study. In O. Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, M.-T. Nagel, V. Klose, & A. Mehler (Eds.), Students’, graduates’ and young professionals’ critical use of online information (pp. 47–67). Springer.
Braunheim, D., Martin De Los Santos Kleinz, L., & Trierweiler, L. (2024). Differences in source selection and their effect on the quality of written statements during a critical online reasoning performance assessment. Frontiers in Computer Science, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomp.2024.1366934
Banerjee, M., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., & Schelle, C. (2024). The role of narrative framings and latent meaning structures in online information processing of young professionals – Potentials for an innovative mixed methods approach. In O. Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, M.-T. Nagel, V. Klose, & A. Mehler (Eds.), Students’, graduates’ and young professionals’ critical use of online information (pp. 241–256). Springer.
Paper and Poster Presentations
Schelle, C., Banerjee, M., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., Braunheim, D., & Touzos, A. A. (2025). Sprachgebrauch und fachliche Kontextualisierungen beim Aufgabenlösen in Internetlernumgebungen – Critical Online Reasoning in Studiengängen der Ökonomie und Medizin [Conference presentation]. Presentation at the Gesellschaft für Empirische Bildungsforschung (GEBF), Mannheim, Germany.
Schelle, C., Banerjee, M., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., Braunheim, D., & Touzos, A. (2025, August). Narrative-reconstructive case study of students’ critical online reasoning [Conference presentation]. 21st Biennial Conference of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI 2025), Graz, Austria.
Braunheim, D., Schelle, C., Banerjee, M., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., & Touzos, A. A. (2025, June). Zur Macht doppelter Framings beim Umgang Studierender mit zukunftsrelevanten Informationen aus dem Internet – eine narrativ-rekonstruktive Studie [Conference presentation]. Presentation at the Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Politikdidaktik und außerschulische Jugend- und Erwachsenenbildung (GPJE), Gießen, Germany.
Banerjee, M., Schelle, C., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., Braunheim, D., & Touzos, A. A. (2025, January). Sprachgebrauch und fachliche Kontextualisierungen beim Aufgabenlösen in Internetlernumgebungen – Critical Online Reasoning in Studiengängen der Ökonomie und Medizin [Conference presentation]. Presentation at the Gesellschaft für Empirische Bildungsforschung (GEBF), Mannheim, Germany.
Touzos, A. A., Banerjee, M., Braunheim, D., & Schelle, C. (2024, August). Critical online reasoning in der medizinischen Ausbildung: Narrative und hermeneutisch-rekonstruktive Analysezugänge zum Umgang von Medizinstudierenden mit Online-Quellen [Conference presentation]. Presentation at the Gesellschaft für Medizinische Ausbildung (GMA), Fribourg, Switzerland.
Touzos, A. A., Banerjee, M., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., Schelle, C., & Braunheim, D. (2025, August). Critical online reasoning and the use of online sources by students of economics and medicine [Conference presentation]. 21st Biennial Conference of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI), Graz, Austria.
Banerjee, M., Schelle, C., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., Braunheim, D., & Touzos, A. A. (2024, April). A reconstructive hermeneutic and narrative analysis of students' critical reasoning processes performing an internet search [Conference presentation]. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Schelle, C., Banerjee, M., Braunheim, D., & Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O. (2024, April 13). A reconstructive hermeneutic and narrative analysis of students’ critical reasoning processes performing an internet search [Symposium presentation]. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Braunheim, D., Schelle, C., Banerjee, M., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., & Touzos, A. A. (2024, March). Hermeneutic and narrative analysis of students’ Critical Online Reasoning (COR) [Poster presentation]. Presentation at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Erziehungswissenschaften (DGfE), Halle, Germany.
Banerjee, M., Schelle, C., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., Touzos, A., & Braunheim, D. (2024, March 12). Hermeneutische und narrative Analysen studentischer Critical Online Reasoning (COR)-Prozesse beim Lösen generischer und domänenspezifischer Aufgaben in einer digitalen Lernumgebung [Poster presentation]. Presentation at DGFE, Halle, Germany.
Schelle, C., Banerjee, M., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., Braunheim, D., & Touzos, A. (2024, March 19). Zum kritischen Umgang Studierender mit Internetinformationen – Methodologische Potentiale hermeneutisch-rekonstruktiver und narrativer Analysen in digitalen Lernumgebungen [Single paper]. Presentation at GEBF, Potsdam, Germany.
Schelle, C., Banerjee, M., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., Braunheim, D., & Touzos, A. A. (2024). Economics students’ critical use of Internet information [Conference presentation]. BERA/WERA Focal Meeting, Manchester, United Kingdom.
Schelle, C., Nell-Müller, S., & Braunheim, D. (2024). Des étudiants résolvent des tâches à l'aide d'informations tirées d'Internet – Potentiels d'analyses reconstructives et narratives [Conference presentation]. LIRTES UPEC, Objets frontières et transformations en éducation et formation: Approches théoriques, études empiriques, pratiques professionnelles, Paris, France.
Schelle, C., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., Touzos, A. A., & Braunheim, D. (2024). The role of narrative and latent meaning structures in students’ critical online reasoning [Conference presentation]. EARLI SIG 26, Berlin, Germany.
Banerjee, M., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., Schelle, C., & Kohmer, A. (2023). Narrative framing & latent meaning structures of online information used by students in their critical online reasoning [Paper presentation]. Presentation at WERA Focal Meeting 2023, November, Singapore.
Schelle, C. (2023). Zur Rolle von narrativen Framings und latenten Bedeutungsstrukturen in Online-Informationen und deren Verarbeitung – Potentiale eines innovativen Mixed Method-Designs [Symposium presentation]. Presentation at AEPF, 15. September, Potsdam, Germany. (in Kooperation mit O. Troitschanskaia & M. Banerjee)
Schelle, C. (2023). The role of narrative framing and latent meaning structures of online information used by medical and economics students in their COR [Poster presentation]. Institutstag des Instituts für Erziehungswissenschaft der JGU, Mainz, Germany.
Schelle, C. (2023). Zum kritischen Umgang mit Internetinformationen bei Studierenden – Potentiale eines innovativen methodenintegrativen Settings für die politische Bildung [Conference presentation]. Arbeitskreis Politikunterrichtsforschung (GPJE), Dortmund, Germany. (in Kooperation mit O. Troitschanskaia & M. Banerjee)