Using a general problem-solving strategy to promote transfer.

Abstract

Cognitive load theory was used to hypothesize that a general problem-solving strategy based on a make-as-many-moves-as-possible heuristic could facilitate problem solutions for transfer problems. In four experiments, school students were required to learn about a topic through practice with a general problem-solving strategy, through a conventional problem solving strategy or by studying worked examples. In Experiments 1 and 2 using junior high school students learning geometry, low knowledge students in the general problem-solving group scored significantly higher on near or far transfer tests than the conventional problem-solving group. In Experiment 3, an advantage for a general problem-solving group over a group presented worked examples was obtained on far transfer tests using the same curriculum materials, again presented to junior high school students. No differences between conditions were found in Experiments 1, 2, or 3 using test problems similar to the acquisition problems. Experiment 4 used senior high school students studying economics and found the general problem-solving group scored significantly higher than the conventional problem-solving group on both similar and transfer tests. It was concluded that the general problem-solving strategy was helpful for novices, but not for students that had access to domain-specific knowledge.

Second‐Year Nursing Students’ Retention of Gross Anatomical Knowledge

“…Other factors such as clinical placements and strategies used to enforce learning (McVicar et al, 2014), the time period evaluated (Craft et al, 2013;Kardong-Edgren et al, 2015;McVicar et al, 2015), the number of organ systems and type of organ system studied (Aari et al, 2004;Díaz-Mancha et al, 2016;Emke et al, 2016;Craft et al, 2017), and student factors such as age, gender, employment status, admission qualifications, personality, anxiety, self-efficacy, and support-seeking behaviors (Pitt et al, 2012). Thirdly, these studies described knowledge transfer from high school science to the first-year of the biosciences in university (Whyte et al, 2011;Youssef-Shalala et al, 2014;McVicar et al, 2015) or from theory to clinical (Booth et al, 2017;Günay and Kılınç, 2018;Alt-Gehrman, 2019) or practical (Wagner, 2014;Taylor et al, 2015;Emke et al, 2016;Culyer et al, 2018). However, none of these studies discussed organ-specific knowledge acquisition, transfer, and/ or its application in subsequent years of nursing education.…”

Learning Goal-Free Problems: Collaboratively or Individually?

“…The value of x in this case is referred to as the specified goal. According to Ayres & Sweller (1990), in solving such problems students often use a general problem-solver such as means-ends analysis and work backwards from the goal (see also Youssef-Shalala, Ayres, Schubert, & Sweller, 2014). For many students this creates a high cognitive load and reduces learning.…”

Story of a Research Program

“…Simply pointing out to students that they should use a generic, cognitive skill may be beneficial when learning domain-specific content. Recently, Amina Youssef-Shalala, a PhD student of Paul Ayres and mine, Carina Schubert, a visitor from Germany, and I found that telling students that in the absence of domain-specific knowledge indicating how certain problems can be solved, they should use a strategy of randomly generating moves (YoussefShalala, Ayres, Schubert, & Sweller, 2014). For this strategy, students are told to make as many moves as they can without any reference to the goal of the problem.…”