Effects of instructive feedback on future learning

Observational Learning of Academic and Social Behaviors During Small-Group Direct Instruction

“…A related finding is that most participants emitted fewer errors during later versus earlier behavior sets. The overall average percentage of errors emitted (4.5%) is similar to that reported for young children in other studies (e.g., 4.0-6.3%, Holcombe et al, 1993). Error percentages were higher during instruction on the first behavior set; previous studies that did not teach multiple sets of behaviors to young children over time (e.g., when there were no opportunities to "learn to learn") reported similarly high levels of errors (e.g., 8.9%, Chiara et al, 1995;16.2%, Wolery et al, 1993).…”

“…First, all participants learned all academic behaviors directly taught with progressive time delay. This replicates previous research on the use of response prompting procedures in small group arrangements with preschool children with disabilities (e.g., Alig-Cybriwsky et al, 1990;Chiara, Schuster, Bell, & Wolery, 1995;Holcombe, Wolery, & Snyder, 1994;Holcombe, Wolery, Werts, & Hrenkevich, 1993;Wolery, Werts, Holcombe, Billings, & Vassilaros, 1993;Wolery, Holcombe, Werts, & Cipolloni, 1993). It adds to a smaller body of research that suggests acquisition of discrete academic skills also occur when children with disabilities are taught together in a small group with typically-developing peers (Ledford & Wolery, in press;Venn et al, 1996).…”

Effects of Every-Day and Every-Other-Day Instruction

“…Also, instructional variables such as choral and individual responding in small-group arrangements have been compared (Kamps, Dugan, Leonard, & Daoust, 1994;Wolery, Ault, Doyle, Gast, & Griffen, 1992) and different methods of presenting instructive feedback have been evaluated (Werts, Wolery, Holcombe, & Gast, 1995). Several measures of instructional efficiency are possible, such as the number of behaviors learned (Holcombe, Wolery, Werts, & Hrenkevich, 1993); number of sessions, minutes, and trials to criterion (Ault, Gast, & Wolery, 1988); and number and percentage of errors to criterion (Godby, Gast, & Wolery, 1987). Another defensible measure is permanent transfer, which is defined as the session in which all subsequent sessions result in a majority of the responses being correct unprompted responses.…”

Effects of Transition-Based Teaching With Instructive Feedback on Skill Acquisition by Children With and Without Disabilities

“…To date, no studies have been conducted with kindergartenaged children or in general education classrooms. Second, students have acquired some, but not necessarily all, of the extra stimuli presented in instructive feedback (Werts et al,I996), but introduction of material through instructive feedback may lead to more rapid acquisition of that material when it is taught directly at a later time (Holcombe, Wolery, Werts, & Hrenkevich, 1993). Third, the use of instructive feedback does not appear to influence the rapidity with which target behaviors are acquired (Gast, Doyle, Wolery, Ault, & Baklarz, 1991;Wolery, Doyle et al, 1991) or to increase beyond a few seconds the length of instructional sessions .…”