This study investigated how the linkages between and within memory structures could be affected by using elaboration schemes to support the retention and transfer of a rule. Three treatment conditions were designed to serve as elaborative mediators to enhance the memory structure formed by the skills embodied in a rule from matrix arithmetic. One condition used an elaborated expository text featuring added stories about how to use matrices. This condition was designed to elaborate the relationship between the primary memory structure representing the target rule and another type of structure which was propositional and knowledge-based. The second condition supplemented the elaborated expository text with the addition of instruction on a superordinate skill. This condition elaborated the relationships within the primary memory structure by linking the target skill with an added superordinate skill. The third condition used additional practice within the expository text, which also served to elaborate the relationships between skills in the primary memory structure. In this condition, practice exercises were spaced throughout the text. A spare expository text with no augmentation served as the control condition. Participants included 187 seventh grade students who were at or above the thirty-second percentile rank on the reading and mathematics subtests of a nationally normed achievement test. Each participant was randomly assigned one of the texts representing the treatment conditions. After reading the assigned text, the students completed a posttest which measured performance on the target skill (i.e., the rule), its subordinate skills and transfer items. Analysis of covariance comparisons among the treatment groups yielded nonsignificant differences for contrasts of target skills, transfer to related skills, subordinate skills and overall test / performance, with total CAT achievement test scores used as the covariate. Implications of the results for elaboration schemes and rule-based memory structures are discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-02, Section: A, page: 0441. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75034 |
| Contributors | MORSE, LINDA WILSON., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 193 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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