Considering prior knowledge when using elaborative interrogation

Abstract

Previous studies have promoted the use of elaborative interrogation (a 'why'-questioning strategy) for the acquisition of factual information. One assumption in these studies is that prior knowledge influences when students will be able to use the strategy, with greater prior knowledge leading to higher recall performance. In the studies reviewed here, the effect of prior knowledge on strategy effectiveness was investigated. Specifically, students' performances were compared for materials about which they possessed substantial prior knowledge, little prior knowledge, inconsistent prior knowledge, or shared prior knowledge. In general, the data support the use of elaborative interrogation when studying alone or in dyads especially when learners possess some relevant prior knowledge about the new information.Elaborative interrogation is a strategy that is particularly effective in mediating the acquisition of factual information (Pressley, McDaniel, Turnure, Wood, and Ahmad, 1987; Pressley, Symons, McDaniel, Snyder, and Turnure, 1988). This strategy encourages learners to use their prior knowledge to make inferences and elaborations about new materials by answering 'why' questions (e.g. Why would that fact be true?).Establishing an association between new information and prior knowledge makes the to-be-learned information more meaningful and, thus, more memorable (Pressley, In the earliest elaborative interrogation studies (Pressley et al., 1987), subjects were presented materials that were linked through random or arbitrary pairingsspecifically, single sentences about different kinds of men (e.g. the tall man bought the crackers; the sad man looked at his new boat; the evil man wound the clock). The subjects were asked to explain the relation between the type of behaviour and the kind of man (e.g. Why would that fact be true of that particular man?). Instructions to answer the why questions facilitated retention of the sentences relative to reading the facts with the goal of understanding them. The quality of answer provided to the why question had little affect on retention, however. Rather, the mere attempt to search for an answer seemed sufficient to promote recall.These initial successes with laboratory materials encouraged the expansion of elaborative interrogation research to determine if the method might promote learning of a variety of materials with an associative component. Thus there were studies of elaborative interrogation effects on learning of facts about gender differences (Pressley et al., 1988), Canadian provinces (Martin and Pressley, 1991; Pressley et a]., 1988), and Canadian universities (Woloshyn, Willoughby, Wood, and Pressley, 1990). For both adults and grade-school children, elaborative interrogation produced greater retention than did control instructions (e.g. repetition, a typical default strategy; Garner, 1990). In general, the retention gains associated with elaborative interrogation were large (effect sizes were usually greater than one standard deviation relative to repetition contr...

Using elaborative interrogation to facilitate acquisition of factual information in cooperative learning settings: One good strategy deserves another

“…In summary, this investigation extends previous research demonstrating the applicability of elaborative interrogation in cooperative settings (Woloshyn, Wood, and Willoughby, 1994). The findings of this study do not support the provision ofcooperative learning instruction alone when students are required to learn factual information.…”

“…Elaborative interrogation is a question-answering strategy that facilitates learning of factual information for both adults and middle-school children across a variety of materials (for reviews see Pressley et al, 1992;Woloshyn, Wood, and Willoughby, 1994). In general, retention gains associated with elaborative interrogation are large relative to reading controls (usually greater than one standard deviation; Cohen, 1977).…”

The Effects of Mediation Content and Form on Children's Responses to Violent Television

“…Finally, thinking about questions could activate prior knowledge that makes the new information more interesting and memorable. This third possibility has received a good deal of support (Howard, 1990;Woloshyn, Wood, & Willoughby, 1994).…”

Differential‐associative processing: A new strategy for learning highly‐similar concepts

“…For instance, although elaborative interrogation is an effective strategy for learning new facts when the content is familiar it is less effective when the content is unfamiliar (e.g. Simpson, Olejnik, Tam, & Supattaham, 1994;Willoughby, Wood, McDermott, & McLaren, 2000;Woloshyn, Wood, & Willoughby, 1994).…”