The abstract advantage stems from the use of multiple representations rather than concreteness itself: single concrete and abstract conditions did not differ, and both outperformed multiple concrete representations¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causalr3·q3·i2medium
Currency · newest study 2018 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
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q3 i2 In Experiment 3, the multiple-concrete group scored significantly lower than both the abstract and single-concrete groups, which did not differ from each other. → Amy Bennett 2018
Evidence¶
Amy Bennett 2018¶
Amy Bennett, Matthew Inglis and Camilla Gilmore. (2018). The Cost of Multiple Representations: Learning Number Symbols with Abstract and Concrete Representations. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000318
q3 · i2 · causal · r3
Experiment 3 randomly assigned 120 children to abstract, single-concrete or multiple-concrete conditions. The pre-registered ANOVA found "a significant effect of condition on accuracy" with partial η² = .129; the multiple-concrete group (M = .56) was beaten by abstract (M = .70) and single-concrete (M = .67), which did not differ (p = .566).
"There was a significant effect of condition on accuracy, F(2, 117) = 8.66, p < .001, p2 = .129, shown in Figure 4. Post hoc Tukey HSD tests indicated that the mean score for the multiple-concrete group was significantly lower than for the abstract (p < .001) or single-concrete groups (p = .010)"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Learning number symbols from multiple concrete representations carries a cost compared with consistent single representations, whether concrete or abstract — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
- In Experiment 1, abstract representations produced better symbol learning than multiple concrete representations, but only for children who completed the concrete condition first — related
- A systematic review argues that concrete materials aid mathematics and science learning when they are explicitly and gradually connected to the abstract symbols they represent — related
- Abstract and concrete animation representations do not differ significantly in middle school students' electricity achievement under any of the five text-representation conditions — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
multiple-representations-cost-not-concreteness |
title |
The abstract advantage stems from the use of multiple representations rather than concreteness itself: single concrete and abstract conditions did not differ, and both outperformed multiple concrete representations |
description |
The abstract advantage stems from the use of multiple representations rather than concreteness itself: single concrete and abstract conditions did not differ, and both outperformed multiple concrete representations |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2018 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-24 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — amy-bennett-2018 |
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