Are instructional explanations more effective in the context of an impasse?

Abstract

Effective instructional explanations help the students to construct coherent mental representations. To do so, one condition is that they must be tailored to students' needs. It is hypothesized that explanations are more helpful if they also explicitly aid the students to detect problems in their mental representations, as this provokes an impasse that motivates students to process the explanation deeply. Participants were provided with a computer-based material on plate tectonics and then with explanatory support in the form of either a tailored explanation preceded by an impasse-trigger (I ? E group) or an identical explanation without the impasse-trigger (noI ? E group). After the reading of the materials they solved retention and transfer tests; their flawed ideas were also counted. Participants in the I ? E group recalled more correct information, generated more transfer solutions, and showed fewer flawed ideas than those in the noI ? E group. This indicates that tailored explanations combined with impasse-triggers that make explicit conflicts between the text model and the students 0 models can indeed foster deep learning.Keywords Instructional explanations Á Self-explanations Á Mental model repair Á Students' mental models Á Impasses Á Impasse-triggersOne key question in the promotion of deep learning is under what conditions instructional explanations work effectively. Identifying the factors that make instructional explanations successful is relevant to the extent that these explanations are prevalent (in normal tutoring, classroom lectures, instructional materials) and pose potential advantages (they are complete and coherent and they can help learners when they are stuck). However, evidence from tutoring sessions suggests that tutorial explanations are not associated with learning, whereas explanations generated by the students (i.e., self-explanations) have consistently

Multidimensional Investigation of Deep and Surface Processing

“…An example of concurrent coding can be found in Fergusson-Hessler and de Jong"s (1990) investigation that examined the reading of physics texts using a concurrent think-aloud protocol. The two smallest categories were those that measured deep and surface processing using a physiological task (e.g., eye tracking; Klein, Zwickel, Prinz, & Frith, 2009) or by using an outcome task such as a reading comprehension measure (e.g., Sanchez et al, 2009). Lastly, there were some studies were there was no apparent operationalization of deep and surface processing (e.g., Pearce & Lee, 2009).…”

“…Although, there are examples in the table of frames other than IPT that investigate outcomes related to memory and recall as well (e.g., Nolen, 1988). The emphasis on memory and recall may also be due to the fact these measures are seen to be relatively more objective than other outcome measures, such as text summaries (e.g., Sanchez et al, 2009). …”

Engaging young students in scientific investigations: prompting for meaningful reflection

“…In this way, asking students to reflect could either merely reveal or potentially provoke them to move to a state of uncertainty (Broaders et al 2007;Cook et al 2008). Moreover, the mere act of displaying uncertainty-especially in the presence of a tutor, teacher, or more sophisticated peer-has the added potential advantage of allowing the student to confront his or her own gaps in knowledge, thereby opening new possibilities to seek resolution or help in understanding (e.g., Sánchez et al 2009). In this way, reflection may prompt students to reckon with new knowledge by exposing or addressing the student's uncertainty.…”

“…By prompting the student to display uncertainty, the tutor can hone in on those aspects of the concept with which the student is struggling (Alibali et al 1997)-but with discretion. Impasses, under the right conditions, can motivate students to take a more active role in forming better understandings (Sánchez et al 2009;VanLehn et al 2003).…”

How to Foster Active Processing of Explanations in Instructional Communication

“…Especially when learners get stuck or detect errors in their understanding-that is, when they experience an impasse (VanLehn et al 2003)-they might ask for an instructional explanation. Sánchez et al (2009) tested whether explanations of the domain of plate tectonics are more helpful if they also explicitly aid the students to repair problems in their mental models. To this aim, Sanchez et al provided an impasse trigger that was designed to hint at a possible misunderstanding of a learner and thereby induce a mental model repair.…”