The worked-example effect: Not an artefact of lousy control conditions

Schwonke, Rolf; Renkl, Alexander; Krieg, Carmen; Wittwer, Jörg; Aleven, Vincent; Salden, Ron

doi:10.1016/j.chb.2008.12.011

Cited by 166 publications

(120 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…For instance, Schwonke and colleagues [7], in two studies in the domain of geometry, found that a fading worked examples condition, one in which some tutored problems were replaced with examples that were, in turn, gradually replaced first by partially completed examples and, later, by fully-tutored problems, led to as much learning and transfer as a control condition of all tutored problems, yet in significantly less time. McLaren et al's findings [8] in three studies in the domain of chemistry corroborated the efficiency findings of Schwonke et al -more specifically, an alternating example-tutored problem condition yielded the same learning as a tutoredproblems-only control, but with significantly better learning efficiency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When Is It Best to Learn with All Worked Examples?

McLaren

Isotani

2011

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

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Abstract.Worked examples have repeatedly demonstrated learning benefits in a range of studies, particularly with low prior knowledge students and when the examples are presented in alternating fashion with problems to solve. Recently, worked examples alternating with intelligently-tutored problems have been shown to provide at least as much learning benefit to students as all tutored problems, with the advantage of taking significantly less learning time (i.e., more efficiency) than all tutored problems. Given prior findings, together with the prevailing belief that students should be prompted to actively solve problems after studying examples, rarely have all worked examples been tried as a learning intervention. To test the conventional wisdom, as well as to explore an understudied approach, a study was conducted with 145 high school students in the domain of chemistry to compare alternating worked examples / tutored problems, all tutored problems, and all worked examples. It was hypothesized that the alternating condition would lead to better results (i.e., better learning and/or learning efficiency) than either all examples or all tutored problems. However, the hypothesis was not confirmed: While all three conditions learned roughly the same amount, the all worked examples condition took significantly less time and was a more efficient learning treatment than either alternating examples/tutored problems or all tutored problems. This paper posits an explanation for why this (seemingly) surprising result was found.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When Is It Best to Learn with All Worked Examples?

McLaren

Isotani

2011

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

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“…The use of self-explanation prompts has been found to improve learning outcomes in a variety of other studies involving Cognitive Tutors (e.g., Corbett et al 2003;Renkl and Atkinson 2007), in addition to studies without such software (e.g., Chi et al 1994;Renkl et al 1998). In addition to the above features, the problem set for the studies by Schwonke et al (2009) was designed to start with easier problems with low intrinsic load (e.g., only one step, see Fig. 2) and then introduce harder problems with higher intrinsic load (e.g., three steps, see Fig.…”

Section: Tutored Problem Solving In Cognitive Tutorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Inspired in part by this dilemma, several recent studies have embedded worked examples in a variety of Cognitive Tutors and investigated whether the examples still had beneficial effects over the tougher tutored control condition (e.g., Anthony 2008;McLaren et al 2008;Salden et al 2010;Schwonke et al 2009). …”

Section: Tutored Problem Solving In Cognitive Tutorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accounting for Beneficial Effects of Worked Examples in Tutored Problem Solving

et al. 2010

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Recent studies have tested the addition of worked examples to tutored problem solving, a more effective instructional approach than the untutored problem solving used in prior worked example research. These studies involved Cognitive Tutors, software designed to support problem solving while minimizing extraneous cognitive load by providing prompts for problem sub-goals, step-based immediate feedback, and context-sensitive hints. Results across eight studies in three different domains indicate that adding examples to Cognitive Tutors is beneficial, particularly for decreasing the instructional time needed and perhaps also for achieving more robust learning outcomes. These studies bolster the practical importance of examples in learning, but are also of theoretical interest. By using a stronger control condition than previous studies, these studies provide a basis for refining Cognitive Load Theory explanations of the benefits of examples. Perhaps, in addition to other reasons, examples may help simply because they more quickly provide novices with information needed to induce generalized knowledge. Keywords Worked examples . Cognitive tutors . Cognitive load theoryIn recent years, a considerable number of studies have explored the conditions under which examples aid in acquiring cognitive skills (for a review, see Atkinson et al. 2000;Renkl 2005Renkl , 2010. Among other things, researchers have discovered (1) that examples are more effective than problems in the early stages of skill acquisition, (2) that problems are more effective in later stages (e.g., Kalyuga et al. 2003), (3) that interleaving examples and problems (i.e., example-problem pairs) is more effective than presenting examples and problems in blocks (Trafton and Reiser 1993), (4) that a gradual step-by-step fading of Educ Psychol Rev

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“…We developed two types of SE prompts. Previous research [8,17] showed that worked examples increase conceptual knowledge more than problem solving; therefore we provided Procedural-focused Self Explanation (P-SE) prompts after examples to make sure that students pay additional attention to procedural knowledge. P-SE prompts therefore complement learning from examples.…”

Section: Study Design and Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Koedinger and Aleven [7] criticised those because of the very different amounts of information provided to the two conditions (the unsupported problem-solving condition received no feedback upon submitting solutions). As the response to this criticism, Schwonke et al [8] compared a standard cognitive tutor (Geometry Tutor) to a new version which was enriched with faded worked examples. Both conditions had the same amount of learning, but the faded example condition led to significantly reduced learning time.…”

Section: Introduction and Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examples and Tutored Problems: How Can Self-Explanation Make a Difference to Learning?

Najar

Mitrović

2013

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

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Abstract:Learning from worked examples has been shown to be superior to unsupported problem solving in numerous studies. Examples reduce the cognitive load on the learner's working memory, thus helping the student to learn faster or deal with more complex questions. Only recently researchers started investigating the worked example effect in Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs). We conducted a study to investigate the effect of using worked examples in combination with supported problem-solving in SQL-Tutor. We had three conditions: Examples Only (EO), Problems Only (PO), and Alternating Examples/Problems (AEP). After completing a problem, students received a selfexplanation prompt that focused on the concepts used in the problem, to make sure that students acquire conceptual knowledge. On the other hand, examples were followed by self-explanation prompts that focused on procedural knowledge. The study showed that the AEP and PO conditions outperformed EO in learning gain, while AEP outperformed PO in conceptual knowledge acquisition. Therefore, interleaving examples with supported problems is an optimal choice compared to using examples or supported problems only in SQL-Tutor.

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The worked-example effect: Not an artefact of lousy control conditions

Cited by 166 publications

References 30 publications

When Is It Best to Learn with All Worked Examples?

When Is It Best to Learn with All Worked Examples?

Accounting for Beneficial Effects of Worked Examples in Tutored Problem Solving

Examples and Tutored Problems: How Can Self-Explanation Make a Difference to Learning?

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