We compared an alternating task modules (ATM) protocol—which alternated sessions on Space Fortress, Phoenix (video-game-like tasks), and algebra word problems—with a massed protocol, which blocked sessions on the tasks. The protocols were isochronal (equal in duration), each entailing one week of training and testing. ATM gave the men and women an advantage in learning and retention on Space Fortress and algebra word problems; it did not change their performance on Phoenix. Arousal, not confidence or motivation, was implicated in the ATM advantage. The practical implication of demonstrating and describing ATM benefits is that real-world training often requires minimal durations. This pragmatic constraint favors ATM over frequently investigated anisochronal schedules, in which spacing practice over long durations is more effective than massing practice in short durations. Evaluations of retention, arousal, motivation, and confidence began the process of testing theories that might be expanded to explain and enhance ATM benefits.
We used a 2 × 2 design to compare the performance of low-aptitude remedial participants learning to solve mathematics word problems. Participants worked either alone or as a member of a collaborative dyad, and received up to twelve hours of instruction and practice using either the Word Problem-Solving Environment (WPSE), an exploratory system over which users exercise considerable control, or Solver, a very structured and sometimes directive tutor. Individuals who worked with the WPSE showed the greatest average improvement between pretest and posttest scores. Dyad members showed relatively moderate improvements after working with either the directive tutor or the problem-solving environment. There were no significant changes between pretest and posttest scores for individuals who worked with the directive tutor. We discuss possible reasons for this pattern of results and present an analysis of data concerning the number of operations used in solving problems, the number of errors made, and the number of help requests, to support our discussion.
This study examined the performance to observation ratio in training a complex computer-based flight simulator task. Subjects were divided into five different groups. One group performed 100% of the time during training, the second group performed 75% of the time and observed 25% of the time, the third group performed 50% of the time and observed 50% of the time, the fourth group performed 25% of the time and observed 75%, and the fifth group observed 100% of the time. Based on previous observational learning literature, we predicted a linear relationship between performance and percent of time performing. Results however, suggest a non-linear relationship between performance and percent of time performing. Performance was slightly better when a combination of performance and observation was used rather than performance alone. These results indicate that observational learning plays an important, yet often neglected role in learning complex computer-based tasks and suggests that small group oriented computer-based training systems may be more instructionally and cost effective than individually oriented computer-based training systems.
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