Poster #40 - Instructional styles promoting rule-learning in school-aged children

• In Event: 1-061 - Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Section - Cognitive Processes

Integrative Statement

Children, particularly in Western cultures, are often taught through direct, pedagogical instruction. Yet, children also encounter less-structured learning opportunities, e.g., through independently exploring or actively observing. Controversy exists regarding which instructional contexts benefit learning. For example, while school-aged children learn science concepts more effectively from direct instruction than exploration (Klahr & Nigam, 2004), exploration prior to learning improves knowledge of casual structures (Sobel & Sommerville, 2010). Additionally, infants learn words through observation and direct instruction in laboratory settings (Gampe, Liebal & Tomassello, 2012), but at home, only language directed to the child predicts language outcomes (Shneidman & Goldin-Meadow, 2012). In addition to the effects of different teaching styles, children’s own skills may play a role in learning from instruction. Indeed, children who self-generate causal explanations use exploration more effectively to disambiguate inconsistent information (Legare, 2012) and children with poorer working memories learn better from direct feedback (Fyfe et al., 2015). Thus, the present study seeks to understand which instructional styles benefits 6-year-olds’ problem-solving while also exploring individual differences in children’s skills. Here, 69 children (mean age = 78.3 months, range: 73.6-83.7 months, 33 male) participated in a novel rule-learning task (Keys Game) and a generalization task (Generalization). (See Figure 1 for details.) In the Keys Game, children determined which of 18 keys unlocked four locks; only color-and shape-matched keys were effective. To learn the color/shape rules, children participated in one of five conditions: a control condition with no instruction (Baseline) or one of four instructional conditions, which varied in whether children were given an opportunity to explore prior to instruction (Explore/No Explore) and in whether the instruction contained pedagogical cues directed towards the child (Direct/Observed). Success was measured by the number of locks unlocked in a four-minute test phase following instruction. Then, Generalization tested how well children learned and generalized the color/shape rules to images of six novel locks. Generalization success was measured by the proportion of correctly chosen keys. In addition, children’s general skills were measured in relation to success on the Keys Task and Generalization. Inhibition (Flanker, NIH Toolbox), working memory (picture-pointing game), self-directed executive functioning (verbal fluency game; Barker et al., 2014), and vocabulary (PPVT, NIH Toolbox) were measured. Preliminary results show that children learned more in the instructional conditions compared to Baseline (Instructional: mean number of locks unlocked = 3.70, SE = 0.11; Baseline: mean = 2.00, SE = 0.41). While children opened similar numbers of locks across instructional conditions, Generalization differed; children in the two Explore conditions generalized more than those in No Explore conditions (Explore: mean correct = 0.66, SE = 0.06; No Explore: mean = 0.48, SE = 0.05). Analyses are ongoing to examine relationships between Keys Game/Generalization success and individual differences in children’s own skills. Overall, these results suggest that while different types of instruction equally aid performance, exploration enhances abstract rule learning and generalization. This study could have implications for understanding instructional styles that support problem-solving in school-aged children.

Authors

• Mia Radovanovic, University of Chicago
  Presenting Author

• Natalie Brezack, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author

• Laura Shneidman, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
  Non-Presenting Author

• Amanda Woodward, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author