Adaptive task difficulty compensates low interest but not low self-concept among vocational-school students during repeated practice¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · causal r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2025 · checked against its sources 2026-10-22 (automated, 2 of 2 entries) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? For vocational school students, the positive effect of adaptive task difficulty declined for highly-interested students, supporting the hypothesized compensatory interaction for interest. → Sarah I. Hofer 2025 q3 i? Contrary to the hypothesis, the positive effect of adaptive task difficulty among vocational school students was present for students with high self-concept, not low self-concept. → Sarah I. Hofer 2025 (2)

Evidence¶

Sarah I. Hofer 2025¶

Sarah I. Hofer, Frank Reinhold. (2025). Scaffolding of learning activities: Aptitude-treatment-interaction effects in math?. Learning and Instruction 99 (2025) 102177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2025.102177

q3 · i? · causal · r2

GLMM analysis of the randomized experiment (N = 332) showed the complex interaction term for interest was significant, X2(8,68) = 28.51, p < .001, with adaptive task difficulty implemented by adapting task sets to students' previous performance.

"For interest, the hypothesized interaction could be found for VS students with a decline of the positive effect of adaptive task difficulty for highly-interested VS students (Fig. 7)."

Sarah I. Hofer 2025 (2)¶

Sarah I. Hofer, Frank Reinhold. (2025). Scaffolding of learning activities: Aptitude-treatment-interaction effects in math?. Learning and Instruction 99 (2025) 102177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2025.102177

q3 · i? · causal · r2

In the same GLMM analysis, the complex interaction term for self-concept was significant, X2(8,68) = 18.03, p < .05, but the direction ran opposite to the hypothesized compensatory pattern; in APS students the hypothesis held only in tendency.

"Contrary to our hypothesis, a positive effect of adaptive task difficulty was present for VS students with high self-concept (Fig. 7)."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Academic Self-Concept — moderator: an instructional effect differs with it
• Interest — moderator: an instructional effect differs with it

Related Claims¶

• Hypothesized ATI effects of individualized explanations based on typical mistakes were not supported; exploratory benefits emerged for high-resource vocational-school students — related
• Evidence on synergistic openness–interest effects on knowledge attainment is mixed, with supporting, compensating, and zero findings reported — related
• Dynamic visualizations compensate vocational-school students with low general reasoning when learning with analogies — related
• Self-concept and global value interact synergistically and positively in predicting achievement, effort, and teacher-rated engagement — related
• Advanced-placement students outperformed vocational-school students on most learner characteristics, with large effect sizes except interest — related
• At large peer-teacher relatedness discrepancies, high teacher relatedness compensates for absent peer relatedness to support engagement, whereas low teacher relatedness accompanies low engagement (Study 1) — related