Learning from worked examples typically involves study activities, involving reading such materials carefully and attempting to understand the information presented. Considerable evidence has amassed regarding the benefits for novices of studying appropriately constructed worked examples paired with practice questions. However, prior research from the cognitive and sports psychology literatures suggests mental practice of worked examples may be an effective adjunct to studying such materials. Meta-analyses of these literatures suggest the utility of mental practice depends upon the degree of cognitive elements contained within a task, and also suggest that some prior knowledge of a task is necessary for mental practice to be effective. The present series of studies aimed to identify conditions under which mental practice is effective in educationally realistic, highly cognitive domains. Based on the above meta-analytic results, mental practice was hypothesised to enhance learning over further study in highly cognitive domains, but only when students either had sufficient prior knowledge, or were able to develop such knowledge over the course of an instructional intervention. Study activities were primarily expected to support knowledge acquisition, while imagining-based activities (mental practice) were expected to support knowledge automation. The experiments herein thus investigated interactions between levels of prior knowledge, complexity of instructional material, and levels of learning from imagination versus conventional study strategies. In Experiment 1, under conditions of low prior knowledge and complex material (HTML), students who studied worked examples outperformed those who imagined. Experiment 2, using simplified but still complex materials and a similar participant pool, found no differences between conditions, but Experiment 3, using stricter experimental design, found a study effect. In Experiment 4, an imagination effect was found under high prior knowledge. Experiment 5, using less experienced learners, suggested those who studied outperformed those whom imagined on acquisition questions. Experiment 6 found a sequence of study then imagination is more effective than imagination then study. The results have broad application for effective sequencing of these instructional strategies, but development of an accurate metric for imagination "readiness" is required to advance theory and practice, and more evidence is needed for a schema automation explanation of mental practice effects.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/187792 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Ginns, Paul William, Education, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, UNSW |
| Publisher | Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Paul William Ginns, http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright |
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