The Effects of Order of Presentation and Knowledge of Results on the Aural Recognition of Melodic Intervals

PROGRAMED LEARNING has been increasingly employed over the last ten years as an auto-instructional aid for the teaching of such subjects as psychology, mathematics, and languages.1 The writing of programs is generally based upon two principles of procedure: (a) instructional items presented on the program are given in small steps of increasing difficulty. The simplest items are presented first, the more difficult items later; (b) immediate knowledge of results is provided for each student response, so the student knows from item to item if his answers have been correct or incorrect. In addition, programed learning always calls for self-instruction. There is never need for a "live" teacher.