Encoding variability across varied example contexts produces decontextualization supporting transfer (review reports DiVesta and Peverly)¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 1986 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Evidence quality · No study behind this claim is a peer-reviewed article with a DOI: it rests on an ERIC document (a report, conference paper or thesis). It is kept because 2 design pages cite it; treat it as a lead to check, not an established finding.

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Practicing concept examples from a variety of contexts results in decontextualization due to multiple retrieval paths, supporting transfer. → Shavelson 1986

Evidence¶

Shavelson 1986¶

Shavelson, Richard J.; Webb, Noreen M.; Lehman, Penny. (1986). The Role of Symbol Systems in Problem Solving: A Literature Review. CSE Report No. 269. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED338680

q2 · i? · review · r2

The review reports, citing DiVesta and Peverly (1984), an experiment manipulating the context in which novel information was learned (e.g., antique dealers) and measuring far transfer as recognizing concept instances in a new context (e.g., magic shows). The review attributes the hypothesis-and-finding to that study.

"[Practice] on examples from a variety ofcontexts (encoding variability) will result in decontextualizationdue to the availability of multiple retrieval paths"

Studies bearing on this claim¶

Does learning across varied contexts or varied tasks of a type, rather than repeating one, produce transfer to new cases? This table gathers the studies behind this claim and the 9 narrower claims that bear on it: 12 distinct studies (4 review, 3 causal, 3 theoretical, 2 quant-synthesis), q1–q4, 2 of 12 with an effect size coded. One row per study, codes as each entry records them; no effect is averaged and no verdict is drawn. Built by scripts/synthesize_claim.py from eval/synthesis/; a row that looks wrong is fixed on the claim it comes from.

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Chicago classrooms with high-quality authentic intellectual assignments showed greater one-year ITBS gains than classrooms with low-quality assignments — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it

• Presenting multiple cases from different perspectives supports transfer in ill-structured domains — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it

• Analogical Reasoning Improves Transfer — related
• Vocabulary Knowledge Grows Incrementally With Repeated Encounters In Varied Contexts — related
• Learning varied tasks of the same type enables transfer to unencountered tasks of that type — related
• Learning in multiple contexts and generalizing across them makes knowledge both specific and general, addressing why transfer is difficult — a broader claim this one bears on
• Variability of practice interacts with problem format: high variability aids learning from worked examples but harms learning from conventional problems — related
• Interleaving benefits transfer to novel items from a learned category, with effect sizes of up to 0.66 — related
• Lesson variability benefits transfer only in combination with worked-example instruction, as shown by a variability-by-instruction interaction — related
• Task rehearsal improves fluency and complexity on the repeated task but does not transfer to a new task of the same type — related