Another Look at Research on the Adaptation of Instruction to Students Characteristics

This article reviews some problems in aptitude treatment interaction (ATI) research, which is the knowledge base for adaptive instruction. Inconsistent ATI results were attributed to findings indicating that varying instructional methods do not necessarily invoke different types or frequencies of cognitive processing of instruction nor are individual difference measures consistently related to such processing. It is suggested that more consistent processing, and more replicable ATIs may be found by training students in the cognitive processes presumed to be invoked by instructional methods. Finally, it is suggested that the inclusion of affective variables in research on cognitive processing of instruction may lead to findings of more effective and consistent processing by students and to more reliable ATIs.     

Aptitude-treatment interaction research in science education

Individual differences among learners constitute an important class of variables for research on instruction. Their study has been of interest because measures of these variables usually predict learning outcome. There is renewed interest in this fact today because aptitudes now often appear to interact with instructional outcomes, relating differently to learning outcomes under different instructional treatments. Practical interest for science educators stems from the possibility that such interactions may be used to adapt science instruction to fit different learners optimally. Aptitude-treatment interactions (ATI) have been the subject of many studies in recent years and a wide variety of ATI findings are now in hand establishing the existence of ATI as a phenomena. Continuing research in this area will hopefully lead toward improved theory and practice to explain and to use aptitude for science instructional purposes. This article identifies promising areas of ATI research as well as general methodological guidelines for interested science educators.     

Antagonism Between Achievement and Enjoyment in ATI Studies

There is evidence that negative correlations between student achievement and their enjoyment of instructional methods exist under certain circumstances. In aptitude‐treatment interaction (ATI) studies where two or more methods are allowed to interact with student aptitudes to predict enjoyment and achievement, it appears that students often report enjoying the method from which they learn the least. Selected ATI studies are reviewed, and an explanation is suggested which may account for the negative correlations between achievement and enjoyment in instructional settings. It appears that students make inaccurate judgments about the amount of effort they will have to expend to achieve maximum learning outcomes. Low ability students typically report liking more permissive instructional methods, apparently because they allow them to maintain a “low profile” so that their failures are not as visible. However, in order to experience maximum achievement low ability students require less permissive methods which lower the information processing load on them. High ability students like more structured methods which they believe will make their efforts more efficient when these lower load methods seem often to interfere with their learning. High ability students seem to learn more from more permissive approaches which allow them to bring their own considerable skills to bear on learning tasks.     

Expertise Reversal Effect and Its Implications for Learner-Tailored Instruction

The interactions between levels of learner prior knowledge and effectiveness of different instructional techniques and procedures have been intensively investigated within a cognitive load framework since mid-90s. This line of research has become known as the expertise reversal effect. Apart from their cognitive load theory-based prediction and explanation, patterns of empirical findings on the effect fit well those in studies of Aptitude Treatment Interactions (ATI) that were originally initiated in mid-60s. This paper reviews recent empirical findings associated with the expertise reversal effect, their interpretation within cognitive load theory, relations to ATI studies, implications for the design of learner-tailored instructional systems, and some recent experimental attempts of implementing these findings into realistic adaptive learning environments.     

Current status and future directions of educational psychology as a discipline∗

A data analysis strategy is proposed to test for aptitude‐by‐treatment interactions (ATIs) when treatments are administered to aggregates (e.g., classrooms or other groups) rather than individuals. The strategy satisfies both the statistician's concern for between‐unit independence and the ATI researcher's concern for focussing on individual, rather than group, characteristics. In addition, the strategy is shown to be logically and computationally straightforward, while at the same time being capable of detecting ATIs in actual research applications.     

Aptitude Complexes and Trait Complexes

The origins and development of the concept of aptitude complexes are reviewed. Initial empirical success in demonstrating interactions between aptitude complexes and instructional complexes by Richard E. Snow and his students is followed by an inductive approach to finding broader trait complexes. Three empirical studies of college students and adults up to age 62 are described, where trait complexes were correlated with domain knowledge and ability measures. Differentiated profiles of trait complex-knowledge-ability correlations were found and replicated across the 3 studies. Evidence for trait complexes that are supportive or impeding for the development of domain knowledge is reviewed. The aptitude complex-trait complex approach is viewed as an important means toward researching and reevaluating the nature of aptitude-treatment interactions.     

The influence of cognitive domain content levels and gender on designer judgments regarding useful instructional methods

Instructional theory is intended to guide instructional designers in selecting the best instructional methods for a given situation. There have been numerous qualitative investigations into how instructional designers make decisions and the alignment of those decisions with theoretical influences. The purpose of this research is to more quantitatively explore the question of how instructional designers actually use instructional planning theory to judge the usefulness of instructional methods. We asked 56 instructional designers to rate the usefulness of 31 instructional methods for six different cognitive domain content level conditions. The results show that content level has a statistically-significant influence on a designer’s judgments regarding the usefulness of an instructional method. A designer’s gender also has a statistically-significant influence on a designer’s judgments regarding methods, but a weak effect size limits this result. Overall, the results provide evidence that supports the core principles of instructional planning theory, specifically method generality. The results also provide instructional designers further guidance in selecting the most useful instructional methods for cognitive domain content levels.     

对因材施教中“休谟问题”的考察

学生在准备水平、兴趣爱好、能力倾向和学习风格等方面存在“差异”是一个客观存在的“事实”,从这一事实出发,何以能够得出应当为不同的学生提供有“差异”的教学这一“价值”判断？前后两种“差异”的跨越何以可能？针对这一休谟式的问题,本文试图从“哲学”和“科学”两个方面加以解答。论文把因材施教的哲学理由归结“发展个性”、“追求最佳”和“实现平等”;把因材施教的科学理由归结为两个方面,包括诉诸直觉和类比的前科学论证,以及诉诸ATI（能倾教法相互作用）研究的科学论证。     

Relationships between students' meaningful learning orientation and their understanding of genetics topics

This study explored factors predicting the extent to which high school students (N = 140) acquired meaningful understanding of the biological topics of meiosis, the Punnett-square method, and the relationships between these topics. This study (a) examined mental modeling as a technique for measuring students' meaningful understanding of the topics, (b) measured students' predisposed, generalized tendency to learn meaningfully (meaningful learning orientation), (c) determined the extent to which students' meaningful learning orientation predicted meaningful understanding beyond that predicted by aptitude and achievement motivation, (d) experimentally tested two instructional treatments (relationships presented to students, relationships generated by students), (e) explored the relationships of meaningful learning orientation, prior knowledge, instructional treatment, and all interactions of these variables in predicting meaningful understanding. The results of correlations and multiple regressions indicated that meaningful learning orientation contributed to students' attainment of meaningful understanding independent of aptitude and achievement motivation. Meaningful learning orientation and prior knowledge interacted in unique ways for each topic to predict students' attainment of meaningful understanding. Instructional treatment had relatively little relationship to students' acquisition of meaningful understanding, except for learners midrange between meaningful and rote. These findings imply that a meaningful learning approach among students may be important, perhaps as much or more than aptitude and achievement motivation, for their acquisition of interrelated, meaningful understandings of science.     

Aptitude Theory: Yesterday,Today, and Tomorrow

The concept of aptitude is reviewed and reconstructed. Its original sense of reciprocity between person and situation and appropriateness of person-situation fit is restored. Modern interpretation thus emphasizes readiness to learn in particular instructional situations and recognizes conative and affective as well as cognitive sources of aptitude. Limitations of old aptitude theories are noted. Requirements for new aptitude theories are listed. A new conceptual language for aptitude theory is suggested by the Thorndike-Thomson sampling theory, Gibson's (1966, 1979) affordance theory, and Simon's (1969) artifact theory, in combination with implications from current research.     

Comparing the Efficiency of Special Teaching Methods by Means of Standardized Tests

Abstract

An attempt was made to detect an aptitude-treatment interaction between instructional treatment and spatial-visualization ability. Two groups of elementary education majors were given instruction on the fundamental properties of algebraic structures. The treatments given to the groups (verbal and verbal-spatial) were designed to differ as much as possible in the amounts of spatial visualization they required. It was expected that the slope of the regression line for the verbal-spatial group would be greater than that for the verbal group. However, no significant ATI was found. A rationale is provided that explains the present results and predicts that such an ATI will exist for some topics in mathematics but not for others.     

Teaching problem solving: An ATI study of the effects of teaching algorithmic and heuristic solution methods

This paper begins by characterizing typical training programs on “learning to think,” in terms of: their breadth, generality and specificity; the types of tasks and solution methods; and the guidance to students (assigning them to alternative programs; registering and reacting to their mistakes, requests for help, etc.). The paper then outlines some strengths and weaknesses of past research and sets out criteria appropriate for an aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI) study of the relationship between tasks, training methods and student attributes. Finally, an account is given of exemplary ATI experiments, administered via a computer, on the immediate and delayed effects of teaching algorithmic and heuristic solution methods. The tasks involve inductive reasoning (the extrapolation of number series) and deductive reasoning (the evaluation of syllogisms).     

TRENDS IN RESEARCH: APTITUDE‐TREATMENT INTERACTIONS

In the first of an occasional series of reports on current trends in research, the author examines reasons behind the familiar finding ‘no significant difference’, and concentrates on the importance of the interactions between innate ability and appropriate method of teaching, or aptitude ‐ treatment interactions. Such research is examined in detail and found to offer little assistance at present. A detailed bibliography is appended.     

A review of aptitude-treatment interaction studies with the handicapped

Twenty aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI) studies that used handicapped students as subjects were reviewed to determine the validity of the ATI concept with handicapped students. Since only four of the studies resulted in significant disordinal aptitude-treatment interactions, it was concluded that the ATI concept, on the basis of present information, is essentially nonvalidated. Areas for further research are discussed.     

教学论研究的事实与价值之思

教学论,既究教学事实之理,也求教学价值之理,是事实之学与价值之学的统一。价值负载的研究态度．数学方法在教学论研究中应用程度不高,教学论知识可靠性有待提高,教学的个体价值与社会价值在社会转型时期的对立,是目前困扰教学论研究的主要问题。提高教学论研究者的科学素养,完善学术规范,树立学术信念．加强教学论史研究,提高教学论知识的科学性,加强对社会转型和文化变迁的基础研究,把握人与社会之间价值关系的历史发展动向,研究和确立以人为本的新型教学价值关系,是教学论研究的脱困之路。     

Facilitating problem solving in high school chemistry

The major purpose for conducting this study was to determine whether certain instructional strategies were superior to others in teaching high school chemistry students problem solving. The effectiveness of four instructional strategies for teaching problem solving to students of various proportional reasoning ability, verbal and visual preference, and mathematics anxiety were compared in this aptitude by treatment interaction study. The strategies used were the factor-label method, analogies, diagrams, and proportionality. Six hundred and nine high school students in eight schools were randomly assigned to one of four teaching strategies within each classroom. Students used programmed booklets to study the mole concept, the gas laws, stoichiometry, and molarity. Problem-solving ability was measured by a series of immediate posttests, delayed posttests and the ACS-NSTA Examination in High School Chemistry. Results showed that mathematics anxiety is negatively correlated with science achievement and that problem solving is dependent on students' proportional reasoning ability. The factor-label method was found to be the most desirable method and proportionality the least desirable method for teaching the mole concept. However, the proportionality method was best for teaching the gas laws. Several second-order interactions were found to be significant when mathematics anxiety was one of the aptitudes involved.     

Training students to process text with adjunct aids

Hypotheses about how readers learn from text augmented by objectives or by adjunct postquestions were operationalized by training students to use specific processes while reading. Achievement on a one-passage and on a four-passage curriculum was analyzed using regression analyses to identify treatment effects and aptitude-treatment interactions. Training students to use theoretically appropriate processes associated with objectives or adjunct postquestions generally reduced aptitude-treatment interaction effects, but it did not yield the expected increments in learning compared to placebo groups. Discussion centers on a pointer effect prompted by objectives and postquestions that relates to aptitude. The methodological difficulties and theoretical advantages of operationalizing students' cognitive responses to instructional stimuli by training are also described.     

Differences between media and differences between learners: Can we relate them?

The paper takes as its starting-point the generally undisputed assumption that there are educationally relevant differences between learners and between different types of media and that an appropriate match between these fields will lead to an improvement of learning. The first section looks at how the traditional school system has attempted to tackle the problem of the individual learner and the use of media. The second section surveys different attempts to define and investigate differences between media, and considers in depth the relationship between media taxonomies and instructional media research. A similar survey is made of attempts to define differences between learners and to relate them to media; this survey centres on the field of aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI) research. The closing section focusses on the chances of the individual learner participating in controlling his own conditions of learning within institutions using media-based or media-supported instruction.