Background
Cognitive load theory and worked-example effect
Recent research regarding example-based learning strategies
A CLT perspective: effectiveness of learning from examples and problems simultaneously
The present study
Methods
Participants and design
Major | Simultaneous example and problem | Example-problem pairs | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Mathematics | Business | Mathematics | Business | |
Total | 25 | 22 | 24 | 22 |
Materials
Prior-knowledge test
Training tasks
Test tasks
Self-reported mental effort and difficulty rating scale
Procedure
Data analysis
Results
Example-problem pairs | Simultaneous example and problem | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mathematics | Business | Mathematics | Business | |||||
M | SD | M | SD | M | SD | M | SD | |
Prior knowledge (maximum 6) | 3.60 | 1.22 | 2.25 | 1.26 | 3.64 | 1.36 | 2.36 | 0.99 |
Mental effort in learning phase (maximum 72) | 41.87 | 16.31 | 53.97 | 12.39 | 41.04 | 17.41 | 50.36 | 14.59 |
Difficulty in learning phase (maximum 72) | 34.54 | 11.46 | 51.04 | 13.15 | 36.6 | 15.75 | 44.54 | 12.57 |
Mental effort in test tasks (maximum 54) | 31.45 | 13.14 | 37.95 | 10.95 | 27.20 | 15.22 | 40.04 | 10.82 |
Difficulty in test phase (maximum 54) | 24.92 | 10.77 | 34.09 | 9.36 | 24.32 | 13.64 | 37.63 | 11.63 |
Exercise score (maximum 16) | 12.27 | 2.65 | 10.22 | 4.03 | 13.38 | 1.64 | 12.93 | 2.15 |
Near-transfer test score (maximum 16) | 12.54 | 3.20 | 8.82 | 3.76 | 12.36 | 3.54 | 10.41 | 4.03 |
Far-transfer test score (maximum 8) | 7.12 | 1.31 | 4.93 | 2.66 | 6.94 | 1.40 | 5.54 | 2.27 |
Total test score (maximum 24) | 19.67 | 4.40 | 13.75 | 6.10 | 19.30 | 4.40 | 15.95 | 3.68 |
Near-transfer and far-transfer performance
Cognitive-load measurements
Measure | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mental effort in learning phase | 1 | 0.904*** | 0769*** | 0.653*** | −0.285** |
Mental effort in test tasks | 1 | 0.694*** | 0.694*** | −0.300** | |
Difficulty in learning phase | 1 | 0.888*** | −0.462*** | ||
Difficulty in test tasks | 1 | −0.577*** | |||
Total score | 1 |
Prior knowledge test
Example-problem pairs | Simultaneous example and problem | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
M | SD | M | SD | |
Prior knowledge (maximum 6) | 4.11 | 0.90 | 4.21 | 0.99 |
Difficulty (maximum 72) | 34.28 | 11.92 | 32.21 | 14.41 |
Exercise (maximum 16) | 12.44 | 2.59 | 13.68 | 1.63 |
Test (maximum 24) | 20.11 | 3.19 | 20.42 | 3.72 |
Number | 18 | 19 |
Example-problem pairs | Simultaneous example and problem | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
M | SD | M | SD | |
Prior knowledge (maximum 6) | 1.53 | 0.72 | 1.87 | 0.61 |
Difficulty (maximum 72) | 56.00 | 8.43 | 44.07 | 14.11 |
Exercise (maximum 16) | 9.00 | 4.15 | 12.87 | 1.56 |
Test (maximum 24) | 12.27 | 6.28 | 16.53 | 5.35 |
Number | 15 | 15 |