When Instructional Guidance is Needed

Studying worked examples providing problem solutions to learners usually leads to better test performance than solving the equivalent problems without guidance, demonstrating the worked-example effect. The generation effect occurs when learners who generate answers without guidance learn better than those who read answers that provide guidance. The contradiction between these results can be hypothesised to be due to differences in the element interactivity of the learning tasks. Primary school students in Year 6 participated in the experiment, which investigated the hypothesis by using geometry materials. A disordinal interaction was obtained between levels of guidance and levels of element interactivity. Higher levels of guidance facilitated learning using high element interactivity information, while lower levels of guidance facilitated learning for low element interactivity information. Cognitive load theory was used to explain these contrasting results. From an educational perspective, it was suggested that when determining levels of guidance, a consideration of element interactivity is essential.

[1]  John Sweller,et al.  The worked-example effect using ill-defined problems: Learning to recognise designers' styles , 2009 .

[2]  J. Sweller.  Element Interactivity and Intrinsic, Extraneous, and Germane Cognitive Load , 2010 .

[3]  John Sweller,et al.  The worked example effect, the generation effect, and element interactivity. , 2015 .

[4]  John Sweller,et al.  Cognitive Load Theory , 2020, Encyclopedia of Education and Information Technologies.

[5]  Vincent Aleven,et al.  The worked-example effect: Not an artefact of lousy control conditions , 2009, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[6]  Alexander Renkl,et al.  The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning: The Worked-Out Examples Principle in Multimedia Learning , 2005 .

[7]  F. Paas,et al.  Teaching complex rather than simple tasks: balancing intrinsic and germane load to enhance transfer of learning , 2006 .

[8]  N. J. Slamecka,et al.  The Generation Effect: Delineation of a Phenomenon , 1978 .

[9]  John Sweller,et al.  Relations between the worked example and generation effects on immediate and delayed tests , 2016 .

[10]  Jeffrey D. Karpicke,et al.  Retrieval Mode Distinguishes the Testing Effect from the Generation Effect. , 2010 .

[11]  K. A. Ericsson,et al.  Long-term working memory. , 1995, Psychological review.

[12]  John Sweller,et al.  Not New, but Nearly Forgotten: the Testing Effect Decreases or even Disappears as the Complexity of Learning Materials Increases , 2015 .

[13]  J. Sweller,et al.  High Element Interactivity Information During Problem Solving may Lead to Failure to Obtain the Testing Effect , 2015 .

[14]  F. Paas,et al.  Variability of Worked Examples and Transfer of Geometrical Problem-Solving Skills: A Cognitive-Load Approach , 1994 .

[15]  S. Derry,et al.  Learning from Examples: Instructional Principles from the Worked Examples Research , 2000 .

[16]  J. Sweller,et al.  Effects of schema acquisition and rule automation on mathematical problem-solving transfer. , 1987 .

[17]  Carl E. McFarland,et al.  Retrieval of internally versus externally generated words in episodic memory , 1980 .

[18]  Alexander Renkl,et al.  Toward an Instructionally Oriented Theory of Example-Based Learning , 2014, Cogn. Sci..

[19]  J. Sweller,et al.  The Use of Worked Examples as a Substitute for Problem Solving in Learning Algebra , 1985 .

[20]  Stanley Munson Elam,et al.  Education and the structure of knowledge , 1964 .

[21]  Richard E. Clark,et al.  Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching , 2006 .

[22]  G. A. Miller.  THE PSYCHOLOGICAL REVIEW THE MAGICAL NUMBER SEVEN, PLUS OR MINUS TWO: SOME LIMITS ON OUR CAPACITY FOR PROCESSING INFORMATION 1 , 1956 .

[23]  Martin Reisslein,et al.  Encountering the expertise reversal effect with a computer-based environment on electrical circuit analysis , 2006 .

[24]  R. Mayer.  Should there be a three-strikes rule against pure discovery learning? The case for guided methods of instruction. , 2004, The American psychologist.

[25]  Slava Kalyuga,et al.  The Expertise Reversal Effect is a Variant of the More General Element Interactivity Effect , 2017 .

[26]  Sharon K Tindall-Ford,et al.  When two sensory modes are better than one , 1997 .

[27]  W. Donaldson,et al.  Relational information and memory for problem solutions , 1980 .

[28]  F. Paas,et al.  Cognitive Architecture and Instructional Design , 1998 .

[29]  Z. Peynircioǧlu.  The generation effect with pictures and nonsense figures , 1989 .

[30]  Slava Kalyuga.  Cognitive Load Theory: How Many Types of Load Does It Really Need? , 2011 .

[31]  John Sweller,et al.  The Effect of Worked Examples When Learning to Write Essays in English Literature , 2013 .

[32]  Nelson Cowan,et al.  Metatheory of storage capacity limits , 2001, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

[33]  Slava Kalyuga.  Expertise Reversal Effect and Its Implications for Learner-Tailored Instruction , 2007 .

[34]  T. Gog,et al.  Effects of worked examples, example-problem, and problem-example pairs on novices learning , 2011 .

[35]  Mark A. McDaniel,et al.  Effects of Generation on Immediate Memory Span and Delayed Unexpected Free Recall , 1994, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[36]  F. Paas.  Training strategies for attaining transfer of problem-solving skill in statistics: A cognitive-load approach. , 1992 .

[37]  Fred Paas,et al.  Effects of Process-Oriented Worked Examples on Troubleshooting Transfer Performance , 2006 .

[38]  Richard Mayer,et al.  Multimedia Learning , 2001, Visible Learning Guide to Student Achievement.

[39]  P. Chandler,et al.  Why Some Material Is Difficult to Learn , 1994 .

[40]  J. Sweller.  COGNITIVE LOAD THEORY, LEARNING DIFFICULTY, AND INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN , 1994 .

[41]  D. Griffith,et al.  The attentional demands of mnemonic control processes , 1976, Memory & cognition.