Step 1 for the explanatory study text: the problem in one sentence, its terms, what research and practice call it, the sub-questions, and the works linked rather than reviewed.
The problem in one sentence
Decide which parts to build around the explanation of a study text (objectives, key terms, summaries, boxes, notes and guides), so that a learner who studies it alone learns what it states as its aims.
Terms used in every file of this folder
| instructional text |
prose written to be studied, such as a textbook section, a lesson, a lecture handout or course notes |
| apparatus |
the parts placed around the explanation; textbook research calls each one a pedagogical aid |
| learning objective |
a statement of what the learner will be able to do after the text; older work says behavioural objective |
| alignment |
objectives, teaching and assessment that ask for the same performance |
| backward design |
writing the objectives first, then the assessments, then the content |
| key term |
a word the text marks as one to learn, usually in bold, with its definition |
| glossary |
a list of key terms with definitions, at the end of a chapter or book or running in the margin |
| gloss |
a short definition placed beside a word, in the margin or by a link |
| summary |
a short restatement of the main points, placed before or after a part |
| misconception |
a wrong idea a learner brings to the text, often resistant to change |
| refutation text |
a text that states a misconception, says it is wrong, and gives the accepted explanation |
| guided notes |
instructor handouts with the structure of a lesson and blanks the learner fills in |
| study guide |
a document given to learners to direct their study for a test: topics, terms, questions |
| crib sheet |
a sheet or card of notes a learner prepares and may consult during an exam |
| instructional explanation |
an explanation given by the material, as against one the learner produces |
| worked solution |
a solved problem with its steps shown, printed as a key or a solutions book |
| boxed text |
text set apart from the main column in a frame, as a side feature |
What the field calls each part
| the text and its design |
instructional text, designing instructional text, text design |
Hartley 1978; Hartley 1977 |
| the parts around it |
pedagogical aids, textbook pedagogical features, learning aids |
Weiten 1999; Gurung 2003 |
| aims stated to the reader |
instructional objectives, behavioural objectives, learning outcomes, intended learning outcomes (ILOs) |
Mager 1962; Hartley 1976 |
| aims, teaching and tests matched |
constructive alignment, instructional alignment, curriculum alignment |
Biggs 1996; Cohen 1987 |
| designing from the aims |
backward design, Understanding by Design (UbD) |
Wiggins 2005 (not opened); Wilson 2019 |
| levels of aims |
Bloom's taxonomy, revised taxonomy |
Krathwohl 2002 |
| short restatements |
summaries, adjunct summaries, chapter summaries |
Hartley 1979; Reder 1980 |
| definitions beside words |
glosses, marginal glosses, glossing |
Yanagisawa 2020; Stewart 1991 |
| text against a wrong idea |
refutation text, refutational text, conceptual change text (CCT) |
Tippett 2010; Guzzetti 1993 |
| notes with blanks |
guided notes, skeletal notes, partial notes |
Konrad 2009; Kiewra 1985 (core) |
| aids for an exam |
study guides, reading guides, crib sheets, crib cards, cheat sheets |
Dickson 2005b; Dickson 2008 |
| explanations in solutions |
instructional explanations, example-based learning |
Wittwer 2010 |
What practitioners call it
| learning objectives, "by the end of this section you will be able to" |
instructional objectives (OpenStax 2026b; CMU 2025) |
| questions, objectives, key points of an episode |
objectives and summary, required by a lesson template (Carpentries 2026a) |
| lesson design process, outcomes first |
backward design (Carpentries 2026b; Wilson 2019) |
| course design rubric, alignment standards |
instructional alignment, audited by peer review (Quality Matters 2026b) |
| key terms in bold, glossary |
typographical cueing and glosses |
| section summary, key takeaways, key points |
adjunct summaries |
| common misconceptions box |
refutation text |
| fill-in notes, skeleton notes |
guided notes |
| revision guide (United Kingdom), study guide (United States) |
study guide; no research term for the revision guide was found |
| cheat sheet, formula sheet, crib card |
crib sheet |
| solutions manual, worked solutions, answer key |
worked solutions; their access is the exercise-sets review's question |
Sub-questions
| Q1 |
Which pedagogical aids do textbooks and lessons carry, which do learners use, and which raise performance, measured? |
| Q2 |
Objectives and their alignment with what is taught and tested: measured effects beyond Klauer 1984 |
| Q3 |
Summaries, key-term lists and glossaries placed in the text |
| Q4 |
Refutation text and misconception boxes |
| Q5 |
Guided notes, study guides and crib sheets given to or made by learners |
| Q6 |
Practice: open and publishers' textbooks, lesson templates, course design rubrics, revision guides, with adoption |
| Q7 |
Explained solutions and worked-solution books as a genre |
Search terms tried, three ways
- Academic: designing instructional text, pedagogical aids, behavioral objectives, constructive alignment, instructional alignment, backward design, refutation text, conceptual change text, guided notes, study guide, crib sheet, instructional explanations, marginal glosses.
- Acronym: ILO, CCT, UbD, QM (Quality Matters), OSCQR, OER (open educational resources).
- Author: Hartley, Mager, Biggs, Cohen, Weiten, Gurung, Guzzetti, Tippett, Konrad, Dickson, Wittwer.
- Zero results meant the words were wrong: a string pairing "glossary" with "meta-analysis" returned 0; the work is filed under "glosses" in second-language reading (F32b to F32d).
- "Revision guide" returned 6 records, none about the genre (F26); the genre has no research name in this search.
Linked, not reviewed again
| reader-ergonomics learning-science |
objectives (Klauer 1984), skeletal notes (Kiewra 1985), crib cards (Dickson 2005), pre-training of terms (Mayer 2002), signalling (Schneider 2018), seductive details (Sundararajan 2020), adjunct questions (Hamaker 1986), worked examples (Barbieri 2023) |
does the technique work |
| reader-ergonomics reading-order |
advance organizers, provided outlines (Ponce 2023), relevance instructions |
general before detail |
| reader-ergonomics psycholinguistics |
text cohesion and the reverse cohesion effect |
how the explanation itself reads |
| reader-ergonomics documentation |
Diataxis and the tutorial mode |
a lesson as a tutorial |
| reader-ergonomics-topic information-typing |
typed units |
a box as a typed block |
| reader-ergonomics-topic progressive-disclosure |
folded content |
folded answers and solutions |
| the practice-questions review (sibling folder) |
end-of-chapter questions, their format and feedback |
the questions inside the apparatus |
| the exercise-sets review (sibling folder) |
access to answer keys and solutions (Rystrom 2005) |
when a worked solution is shown |
| the flashcards review (sibling folder) |
prompts detached from the text |
key terms turned into cards |