Providing Written or Oral Explanations? Differential Effects of the Modality of Explaining on Students' Conceptual Learning and Transfer

Learning-by-explaining (to fictitious others) has been shown to be an effective instructional method to support students' generative learning. In this study, we investigated differential effects of the modality of explaining (written versus oral) on students' quality of explanations and learning. Forty-eight students worked on a hypertext about combustion engines. Afterwards, they were asked to explain the learning content, either orally or in writing. Findings indicated that providing written explanations was more effective than providing oral explanations in supporting students to organize the content of the explanations. The higher levels of organization yielded higher levels of students' conceptual knowledge. In contrast, generating oral explanations, relative to written explanations, triggered students' elaborative processes to a more pronounced extent, which was more beneficial to attaining transferable knowledge. Thus, we conclude that the modality of explaining plays a critical role in learning-by-explaining inasmuch as different modes differentially support student learning.     

Humankapital und Praktika

Zusammenfassung Deutlich weniger als in früheren Jahrzehnten garantiert ein Hochschulstudium allein einen reibungslosen übergang in den Arbeitsmarkt. Neben Auslandsaufenthalten, einem zügig und mit guten Noten beendetem Studium geh?ren Praktika zu den Ma?nahmen, die Studierende ergreifen, um ihre Chancen auf einen guten Arbeitsplatz nach dem Studium zu erh?hen. Ziel der Analysen, die in diesem Aufsatz dargestellt werden, ist es, zu untersuchen, inwieweit Personen, die ein hohes Ma? an Kompetenzen in Praktika erworben haben, einen besseren Berufseinstieg haben als Personen, die nur wenige Kompetenzen in Praktika erwarben. Am Beispiel bayerischer Absolventen der Betriebswirtschaftslehre (Universit?t) wird vor dem Hintergrund der Humankapitaltheorie gezeigt, dass der Kompetenzerwerb in Praktika sich zwar nicht einkommenserh?hend in der ersten Erwerbst?tigkeit auswirkt, aber die Chance auf einen inhaltlich und hinsichtlich der Notwendigkeit des Hochschulabschlusses ad?quaten ersten Arbeitsplatz nach dem Studium erh?ht.      

Can we be intelligent about intelligence?: Why education needs the concept of plastic general ability

The notion of general cognitive ability (or ‘intelligence’) is explored and why the time might now be ripe for educators to re-consider the power offered by a general intellectual capacity which is itself amenable to educational influence. We review existing knowledge concerning general intelligence, including the cohabitation of general and special abilities, cognitive modules, development, and evidence for plasticity of the general processor. We examine why this knowledge is generally absent from educational practice and present a number of models that attempt to synthesise the main aspects of current psychological theories. We explore how the models might be used in educational applications and look at examples of effective cognitive stimulation considering both practicalities and theoretical notions of what in our cognitive models is affected by stimulation. We discuss finally the possible political, cultural and social barriers to the inclusion of general ability as central to educational aims.     

A study of group interaction processes in learning lower secondary physics

This study explores the effectiveness of a cooperative learning (CL) approach, where students work together and elaborate concepts of physics. The group problem‐solving tasks were conceptual questions from physics, where the students had to discuss and provide explanations of some phenomena. The effectiveness of the learning‐in‐groups approach was validated and correlated with working group interactiveness. Two group variables were assigned: the group performance and the group activity. These variables and the subjects' participation variable were correlated with achievement. Discourse analysis revealed variation in the nature of the interactions and information exchange, and the two roles as learners and learning facilitators. In addition, the study provided evidence for some features of cooperative learning that could characterize it as a nonlinear dynamical process. Implications of the findings are discussed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 43: 556–576, 2006     

Ecological knowledge: Acquisition and use in problem solving and in decision making

Ecological knowledge is analyzed under psychological and educational aspects. In empirical studies three experimental settings were used to investigate this type of knowledge: (1) a computer simulation of an ecological system, (2) an environmental game as a new variant of the Commons Dilemma, and (3) a computerized text base on various aspects of an actual environmental problem. The subjects had to acquire and to apply this knowledge in making predictions, planning intervention, deciding about environmental measures etc. The results show which conditions impair the acquisition and correct utilization of ecological knowledge and how it is possible to provide well-structured learning environments for this content domain.     

The development of mental processing: efficiency,working memory,and thinking

This Monograph aims to contribute to the information processing, the differential, and the developmental modeling of the mind, and to work these into an integrated theory. Toward this aim, a longitudinal study is presented that investigates the relations between processing efficiency, working memory, and problem solving from the age of 8 years to to the age of 16 years. The study involved 113 participants, about equally drawn among 8-, 10-, 12-, and 14-year-olds at the first testing; these participants were tested two more times spaced one year apart. Participants were tested with a large array of tasks addressed to processing efficiency (i.e., speed of processing and inhibition), working memory (in terms of Baddeley's model, phonological storage, visual storage, and the central executive of working memory), and problem solving (quantitative, spatial, and verbal reasoning). Confirmatory factor analysis validated the presence of each of the above dimensions and indicated that they are organized in a three-stratum hierarchy. The first stratum includes all of the individual dimensions mentioned above. These dimensions are organized, at the second stratum, in three constructs: processing efficiency, working memory, and problem solving. Finally, all second-order constructs are strongly related to a third-order general factor. This structure was stable in time. Structural equation modeling indicated that the various dimensions are interrelated in a cascade fashion so that more fundamental dimensions are part of more complex dimensions. That is, speed of processing is the most important aspect of processing efficiency, and it perfectly relates to the condition of inhibition, indicating that the more efficient one is in stimulus encoding and identification, the more efficient one is in inhibition. In turn, processing efficiency is strongly related to the condition of executive processes in working memory, which, in turn, is related to the condition of the two modality-specific stores (phonological and visual). Finally, problem solving is related to processing efficiency and working memory, the central executive in particular. All dimensions appear to change systematically with time. Growth modeling suggested that there are significant individual differences in attainment in each of the three aspects of the mind investigated. Moreover, each of the three aspects of the mind as well as their interrelations change differently during development. Mixture growth modeling suggested that there are four types of developing persons, each defined by a different combination of performance in these aspects of the mind. Some types are more efficient and stable developers than others. These analyses indicated that processing efficiency is a factor closely associated with developmental differences in problem solving, whereas working memory is associated with individual differences. Modeling by logistic equations uncovered the rates and form of change in the various dimensions and their reciprocal interactions during development. These findings are discussed from the point of view of information processing, differential, and developmental models of thinking, and an integrative model is proposed.