In pursuit of knowledge: Comparing self-explanations, concepts, and procedures as pedagogical tools

Matthews, Percival G.; Rittle‐Johnson, Bethany

doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2008.08.004

Cited by 89 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…After the exploratory problem solving all children received brief conceptual instruction on the relational function of the equal sign, adapted from past research (DeCaro & Rittle-Johnson, 2011;Matthews & Rittle-Johnson, 2009). The experimenter provided a definition of the equal sign, using a number sentence as an example.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of feedback during exploratory mathematics problem solving: Prior knowledge matters.

Fyfe¹,

Rittle‐Johnson²,

DeCaro³

2012

Journal of Educational Psychology

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105

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Providing exploratory activities prior to explicit instruction can facilitate learning. However, the level of guidance provided during the exploration has largely gone unstudied. In this study, we examined the effects of 1 form of guidance, feedback, during exploratory mathematics problem solving for children with varying levels of prior domain knowledge. In 2 experiments, 2nd- and 3rd-grade children solved 12 novel mathematical equivalence problems and then received brief conceptual instruction. After solving each problem, they received (a) no feedback, (b) outcome feedback, or (c) strategy feedback. In both experiments, prior knowledge moderated the impact of feedback on children's learning. Children with little prior knowledge of correct solution strategies benefited from feedback during exploration, but children with some prior knowledge of a correct solution strategy benefited more from exploring without feedback. These results suggest that theories of learning need to incorporate the role of prior knowledge and that providing feedback may not always be optimal.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of feedback during exploratory mathematics problem solving: Prior knowledge matters.

Fyfe¹,

Rittle‐Johnson²,

DeCaro³

2012

Journal of Educational Psychology

Self Cite

105

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Learners sometimes struggle to provide relevant explanations, and, in these cases, self-explanation often does not improve learning (e.g., Broers & Imbos, 2005;DeCaro & Rittle-Johnson, 2012;Matthews & Rittle-Johnson, 2009;Mwangi & Sweller, 1998). In other cases, learners' explanations focus their attention on particular types of information, decreasing their attention to, and learning of, other information (e.g., Berthold et al, 2011;Kuhn & Katz, 2009;.…”

Section: Constraints On When Prompting For Explanation Aids Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eliciting explanations: Constraints on when self-explanation aids learning

Rittle‐Johnson

Loehr

2016

Psychon Bull Rev

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Generating explanations for oneself in an attempt to make sense of new information (i.e., self-explanation) is often a powerful learning technique. Despite its general effectiveness, in a growing number of studies, prompting for selfexplanation improved some aspects of learning, but reduced learning of other aspects. Drawing on this recent research, as well as on research comparing self-explanation under different conditions, we propose four constraints on the effectiveness of self-explanation. First, self-explanation promotes attention to particular types of information, so it is better suited to promote particular learning outcomes in particular types of domains, such as transfer in domains guided by general principles or heuristics. Second, self-explaining a variety of types of information can improve learning, but explaining one's own solution methods or choices may reduce learning under certain conditions. Third, explanation prompts focus effort on particular aspects of the to-be-learned material, potentially drawing effort away from other important information. Explanation prompts must be carefully designed to align with target learning outcomes. Fourth, prompted self-explanation often promotes learning better than unguided studying, but alternative instructional techniques may be more effective under some conditions. Attention to these constraints should optimize the effectiveness of self-explanation as an instructional technique in future research and practice.

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“…Self-explanation prompts ask learners to try to explain why correct content is true, encouraging learners to actively manipulate, link, and evaluate information, and have been shown to improve learning across a variety of domains (e.g., Chi, de Leeuw, Chiu, & LaVancher, 1994;Honomichl & Chen, 2006;Rittle-Johnson, 2006;Wellman, 2011). However, the benefits of self-explanation for learning do not always outweigh the benefits of other learning activities that take a comparable amount of time to complete (e.g., additional problem-solving practice; Matthews & Rittle-Johnson, 2009). We examined the impact of self-explanation in conjunction with exploratory activities, reasoning that self-explanation may bolster learning from exploration.…”

Section: Self-explanation As An Exploration Toolmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Problems in the second set were isomorphic to those in the first set. Children in the self-explanation condition solved one set of six problems and were given self-explanation prompts after they solved each problem using the same procedure as in previous work (e.g., Matthews & Rittle-Johnson, 2009;Rittle-Johnson, 2006). Specifically, after solving each problem and reporting their strategy use, children were shown one correct answer and one typical incorrect answer.…”

Section: Intervention Problem Solvingmentioning

confidence: 99%