Neither instructional sequence produced significant far-transfer effects in either experiment¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causalr2·q3
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q3 i? Far-transfer performance did not differ significantly between I-PS and PS-I groups in either experiment, though trends mirrored the near-transfer results. → Cheng-Wen He 2025
Evidence¶
Cheng-Wen He 2025¶
Cheng-Wen He, Logan Fiorella, Paula P. Lemons. (2025). Does Instruction-First or Problem-Solving-First Depend on Learners' Prior Knowledge? Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-025-09993-3
q3 · i? · causal · r2
General discussion of the two randomized classroom experiments: far-transfer Quade ANCOVAs controlling for prior knowledge showed no significant group differences in either experiment (Experiment 1: F(1,365) = 2.59, p = .108; Experiment 2: F(1,136) = 4.14, p = .44). The authors state "the difference was not statistically significant between the I-PS and PS-I groups".
"the results had the same trend as near-transfer performance across the two experiments, but the difference was not statistically significant between the I-PS and PS-I groups"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- PS-I effects did not replicate in all domains: null sequence effects in Bayesian reasoning, javelin throwing, and inquiry-skill sequencing — a broader claim this one bears on
- Order of worked examples and problem solving had no significant effect on application and transfer scores in experimental design or graphing — related
- The relationship between learners' prior knowledge and the optimal instructional sequence may not be straightforward — a broader claim this one bears on
- Prior knowledge score did not significantly moderate the sequence effect within either experiment, though each experiment covered a restricted prior-knowledge range — related
- No significant interaction between condition and pre-test knowledge on learning outcomes in either topic — related
- For introductory biology students with low topic-specific prior knowledge, problem-solving-first (PS-I) outperformed instruction-first (I-PS) on a near-transfer test — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
no-significant-far-transfer-effect-either-sequence |
title |
Neither instructional sequence produced significant far-transfer effects in either experiment |
description |
Neither instructional sequence produced significant far-transfer effects in either experiment |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2025 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-19 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — cheng-wen-he-2025 |
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