Emmelien Merchie
Post-doctoral assistant at the research group 'Language, learning, innovation', within the Department of Educational Sciences, Ghent University.
Emmelien.Merchie@UGent.be | +32 (0) 9 331 03 17 | +32 (0)9 264 86 64 (secretariat) | Office 120.103
Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000 Gent
Text-based learning
Mind mapping
Late elementary education
My research activities focus on learning strategies that students can apply for effectively processing, acquiring, and learning text information. Working with mind maps is promising in supporting students in this domain.
Within my PhD research (2014) it was explored how elementary school students structure, process and learn text information after a large-scale intervention study wherein they worked with author-provided and student-generated mind maps or a combination of both. Also, specific learner characteristics were taken into account.
As a postdoctoral researcher, I investigated the effectiveness of professional development initiatives (project with Prof. Vanderlinde, Prof. Devos and dr. Tuytens). I also worked as a staff member at the Educational Quality Assurance Office (Ghent University).
My current postdoctoral research focusses on a) the development of validated measurement instruments to map and profile students’ text processing skills and knowledge acquisition, b) the (re-)design of educational materials wherein mind maps as worked-examples are included, c) the exploration and implementation of the innovative eye-tracking methodology to study cognitive processes when students read informative texts and mind maps for learning. I am also involved in other research projects focusing on measuring and stimulating reading comprehension in primary and secondary education. I am also a (co-)lecturer for the course ‘The teacher within school and society’ in the Specific Teacher Training Programme and ‘Integration Seminar’ in the Bachelor of Science in Educational Sciences (Ghent University).
Publications and conferences