Empirical studies within a cognitive load framework have determined that for novice learners, worked examples provide appropriate levels of instructional guidance. As learners advance in specific subject domains, worked examples should be gradually replaced by practice problems with limited guidance. These studies compared immediate and delayed performance in transfer from examples to practice problems using example-problems pairs and gradual fixed fading of worked examples as well as a control condition of pure problem solving. These studies were conducted with employees of a financial services company in a classroom environment. In Experiments 1 and 2, the fading condition indicated possible benefits over the other conditions on immediate and delayed performance measures (although results were not statistically significant). Experiment 3 used a modified fading method and demonstrated that the fading condition performed marginally better than the problem solving condition on delayed performance measures (although results were not statistically significant). Even though the fading condition did not demonstrate significant advantages in immediate post-test measures, over time learners benefited most from this condition. Experiment 4 investigated if the delayed fading effect found in experiment 3 would be observed using far transfer test performance measures. The results of this experiment indicated that the fading condition performed marginally better than the problem solving condition on delayed transfer post-test performance (although results were not statistically significant). Generally the results of this thesis favored the fading condition over the example-problem and problem solving conditions, and the advantage of this condition was enhanced with greater performance in delayed and transfer post-test measures.

L’étude que nous présentons concerne le rôle du guidage dans l’apprentissage de connaissances scientifiques. En sciences, comme dans d’autres domaines, deux types de connaissances peuvent être distingués (Geary, 2007). D’un côté, les connaissances primaires qui sont des connaissances pour lesquelles l’être humain a évolué ; de l’autre, les connaissances secondaires qui dépendent de la culture et qui évoluent en fonction des changements successifs de cette culture. Selon Geary (2008), alors que les connaissances primaires peuvent être acquises de manière implicite, l’acquisition des connaissances secondaires par les apprenants débutants nécessite un apprentissage explicite et bien souvent, une instruction formelle. Ces deux types de connaissances diffèrent aussi en fonction du coût cognitif qu’ils génèrent. La théorie de la charge cognitive de Sweller (1988) montre que les processus d’apprentissage dépendent de la quantité de ressources attentionnelles en mémoire de travail, requises par l’activité et de la structuration de ces informations dans la mémoire à long terme. Alors que les connaissances primaires peuvent être apprises avec une faible charge cognitive, apprendre les connaissances secondaires va requérir une très grande charge cognitive.Il existe plusieurs formes d’instruction explicite qui ont montré leur efficacité dans les processus d’apprentissage (Renkl, 1997) et notamment le guidage (à partir de l’étude d’exemples travaillés). En effet, le guidage faciliterait l’acquisition des connaissances car il réduirait la quantité de ressources cognitives engagée dans le processus d’apprentissage. Ainsi, le guidage serait inefficace dans le traitement des connaissances primaires et efficace avec celui des connaissances secondaires. Cette recherche a pour but de tester empiriquement cette hypothèse dans le domaine de la biologie. Cinq études ont donc été réalisées auprès de 420 élèves de 6ème de collège. Il s’agissait de comparer trois modalités de guidage : un guidage fort, un guidage adaptatif et une absence de guidage. Les trois premières études concernaient la connaissance primaire de catégorisation impliquée dans la catégorisation du vivant (Etude I), la catégorisation des végétaux (Etude II) et la catégorisation des animaux (Etude III). Ces études, de difficulté croissante, ont montré que le guidage n’était pas efficace dans l’apprentissage de cette connaissance. Les deux autres études concernaient la connaissance secondaire de classification phylogénétique des végétaux (Etude IV) et des animaux (Etude V). Ces études ont montré que, dans ce cas, le guidage était indispensable pour aider les apprenants débutants / This study deals with the role of instruction in learning scientific knowledge. In science as in other fields, two types of knowledge can be distinguished (Geary, 2007): on the one hand, primary knowledge, which is adaptative knowledge; on the other hand, secondary knowledge which depends on culture and which evolves according to this culture’s successive changes. For Geary (2007), primary knowledge can be acquired incidentally or from implicit learning whereas secondary knowledge requires some explicit learning, and often formal instruction.These two knowledge types also differ in terms of cognitive cost. Sweller’s load theory (2008) shows that the learning process depends on the amount of attentional resources of working memory required by the activity and on the structuring of this information in the long-term memory. While primary knowledge can be learnt with a low cognitive load, learning secondary knowledge will require a high cognitive load. Some types of explicit instruction, such as guidance (e.g., worked examples) have proven effective in the learning process (Renkl, 1997). Indeed, instructional guidance would facilitate knowledge acquisition as it would reduce the amount of cognitive resources involved in the learning process. Thus, instructional guidance to help young learners would be ineffective for primary knowledge and necessary for secondary knowledge. This study also aims at examining the effect of instructional guidance in Biology. Five experiments have been conducted with 420 students in 6th grade. Three guidance methods have been compared: strong guidance, adaptative guidance and no guidance. The first three experiments dealt with the primary knowledge of categorization of living species: living beings (Study I), plants (Study II) and animals (Study III). These experiments, of increasing difficulty, have shown that explicit instruction was not effective in learning this type of knowledge.. The other two experiments dealt with the secondary knowledge of the phylogenetic categorization of plants (Study IV) and animals (Study V). These studies have shown that secondary knowledge needs to be taught.