Imagining worked examples benefits learners with adequate prior knowledge but harms performance for low-knowledge learners¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2009 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? For complex cognitive tasks, low-prior-knowledge groups that imagine worked examples perform poorly compared to groups that study them, while adequate-prior-knowledge groups that imagine outperform groups that study worked examples. → Meer 2009

Evidence¶

Meer 2009¶

Meer, J.P. van & Theunissen, N.C.M. (2009). Prospective educational applications of mental simulation: A meta-review. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-009-9097-8

q2 · i? · review · r2

The review reports this from studies outside its consulted reviews (Cooper et al. 2001; Ginns et al. 2003; Leahy & Sweller 2005, 2008), attributing the pattern to those authors; it implies an existing cognitive schema is needed before MS can reinforce it.

"performance on a complicated cognitive task while having low prior knowledge levels, is poor for groups that imagine worked examples compared to groups that study them. However, groups with adequate prior knowledge levels that imagine worked examples outperform groups that study worked examples."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Prior Knowledge — moderator: an instructional effect differs with it

Related Claims¶

• The imagination effect (cognitive rehearsal of example procedures) enhances learning only for learners with prior knowledge — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• The review reports that the isolated-elements mixed instructional method benefits novices but the benefit disappears for experienced learners, and that the imagination effect reverses with expertise — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• The relative effectiveness of instructional methods reverses as levels of learner knowledge in a domain change (the expertise reversal effect) — a broader claim this one bears on
• Combining tracing with imagining (tracing with closed eyes) reduced problem-solving times compared to no tracing and imagining in worked-example mathematics learning — related
• Variations in cognitive activation are reflected in the germane cognitive load scale: prompted imagination and disfluent text raise GCL — related
• GCL-raising activations did not improve learning outcomes: neither prompted imagination nor disfluency produced a significant task-performance advantage — related
• Combining drawing with mentally imagining produces a negative effect of drawing, qualified by a significant interaction — related
• Feedback benefits are stronger for children with low prior knowledge, resembling an expertise-reversal effect — related
• Experienced educators ranked experience-drawing and imagination questions highest and factual and technique questions lowest among eighteen literature study questions — related