How Should We Use Varied Cover Stories of Worked Examples to Improve Learning Performance?

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Abstract

Learning through examples is a central and widely used instructional device for teaching mathematically-based subjects such as statistical probability. However, the effect of varying surface features (cover stories) of a problem unrelated to the solution (i.e., superficial variability) remains controversial. This study investigates how the superficial variability of multiple examples influences students’ learning of probability problem-solving. In addition, it explores whether content difficulty affects the influence of examples’ superficial variability. The results suggested that examples’ superficial consistency between different problem types promotes more effective learning than superficial variation between different problem types. Moreover, the pattern of the influence of superficial variability of examples is robust among types of the problem at varying difficulty levels.

Authors

• Tiantian Jin, Pearson Education, Inc.

• John B. Black, Teachers College, Columbia University