Introducing Desirable Difficulties for Educational Applications in Science

Introducing Desirable Difficulties for Educational Applications in Science www. psych. ucla. edu/iddeas Robert A. Bjork, Lindsey Richland, Matt Hays, and Jason Finley UCLA Marcia C. Linn, Britte Cheng UC Berkeley Thanks to RAs: Dan Fink, Greg Cragg, Katy Cohanshohet, Asako Kumeya, Francis Yau, Kitty Goss, Tabby Dadvand

Desirable Difficulties • Design principles that have been found, in laboratory research, to impair performance during training but enhance performance at a delay

IDDEAS Introducing Desirable Difficulties for Educational Applications in Science • Broad Goals: extend laboratory research on learning and memory to classroom environment, explore interactions b/w DDs • Narrower Goal: Implement desirable learning difficulties in a web-based science module (WISE) for 8 th graders, with aim of improving effectiveness of such modules

Spacing Effect Presentation Example Schedule Performance during training Performance at a delay Massed A, A, A better worse Spaced A, A, A worse better

Interleaving Effect Presentation Example Order Performance during training Performance at a delay Blocked A, A, A, B, B, B better worse Interleaved A, B, B, A, A, B worse better

Theories Explaining Interleaving Contextual Interference (Battig, 1972, 1979) • Reloading/ Reconstruction (e. g. Lee & Magill, 1983, 1985) • Development of higher order framework/ Elaboration (Shea & Zimny, 1983, 1988) • “It’s just the spacing effect”

Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE) • A system/tool for scientific instruction • Promotes knowledge integration, collaborative learning, visible thinking • Contains modules on a wide variety of topics, with options to customize and to create new modules • Plus: a useful research tool!

IDDEAS WISE Exp 3 Motivations • Extend laboratory studies on interleaving to realistic educational material • Focus on contextual interference as possible mechanism for interleaving effect

Learning Materials • 2 Sets of Learning Stimuli – Planet Formation – Star Formation • Examples – “Planets form in a disk of material around a star. This circumstellar disk contains gases and tiny particles of metals; the total mass is several thousand times that of the planets that emerge from it. ” – “Solar systems, and the stars at their centers, begin as giant molecular clouds. These clouds are primarily made of hydrogen gas, but can also contain water vapor, nitrous oxide, ethanol, and molecules with carbon rings. ”

2 Independent Variables 1. Presentation Order – – Blocked (P, P, S, S, S, S) Interleaved (P, S, S, P, P, S) 2. Competition due to Arrangement – – Greater Competition (more similar slides arranged together) Less Competition (more similar slides arranged apart)

Dependent Variable • Performance on Post-Test (2 -day delay) – Multiple-choice Qs – Fill-in-the-Blank Qs – Sorting Task

Design Overview • 2 sets of learning stimuli • Planet Formation (P) • Star Formation (S) • Presentation • Order: Blocked (P, P, S, S, S, S) vs. Interleaved (P, S, S, P, P, S) • Competition by Arrangement: Greater vs. Less • Post-Test • 48 hour delay • Metacognition – Questionnaire given after learning and after test

RESULTS!!!

Metacognition

Future Directions? • Different Material • Interleaving w/ other Desirable Difficulties?