Examining the Impact of Adaptively Faded Worked Examples on Student Learning Outcomes

the purpose of this study was to explore effective ways to design guided practices within a web-based mathematics problem solving tutorial. specifically, this study examined student learning outcome differences between two support designs (e.g. adaptively faded and fixed). in the adaptively faded design, students were presented with problems in which learning tasks and support were individualized based on student proficiency on key component problem solving skills (i.e. text comprehension, problem categorization, problem representation, solution planning and execution, and self-evaluation). in the fixed support design, students were presented with fully worked examples irrespective of proficiency levels. the tutorial was implemented in high school mathematics courses at a small rural independent school district in the southwestern area of the United states. a total of 35 high school students were randomly assigned to one of two tutorial designs. data were obtained through questionnaires, sur veys, student logs, and performance tests. Results indicated no significant differences in perceived mental effort and student achievement however, a significant difference was found in regard to tutorial study time.

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