Modeling Practice, Performance, and Learning

This chapter presents the results from a study examining the relationship between practice, performance, and learning. We compared two versions of an intelligent tutoring system differing only in the number of problems that needed to be solved per problem set (Abbreviated = 3 problems, Extended = 12 problems). Our hypotheses were that Abbreviated subjects, in comparison to Extended subjects, would: (a) take less time to complete the tutor because they had fewer problems to solve, (b) perform worse on the posttest measures (accuracy and latency), and (c) demonstrate poorer transfer of knowledge and skills across tutor problems given fewer practice opportunities. We found that, while Abbreviated subjects did take significantly less time to complete the tutor than Extended subjects, both groups performedequally across all outcome measures. Componential skill analyses enabled us to track the course of skill acquisition during practice, and predict the degree of skill transfer afterward. We conclude with suggestions for the development of efficient automated instruction.

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