Productive failure students demonstrated greater representation flexibility in working with graphical representations than students in the other two conditions¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r? · q3
Currency · newest study 2011 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Productive failure students demonstrated greater representation flexibility in working with graphical representations compared with students in the lecture-practice and facilitated complex problem solving conditions. → Kapur 2011

Evidence¶

Kapur 2011¶

Kapur, M. (2011). A further study of productive failure in mathematical problem solving: unpacking the design components. Instructional Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-010-9144-3

q3 · i? · causal · r?

Post-test measure from the same three-condition study of 109 seventh-grade students. The abstract reports PF students "demonstrated greater representation flexibility in working with graphical representations"; the available text prints no effect size for this difference.

"and demonstrated greater representation flexibility in working with graphical representations"

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Mathematical Flexibility — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Differences between the facilitated complex problem solving and lecture-practice conditions did not reach significance on post-test outcomes — related
• Productive failure students significantly outperformed lecture-practice and facilitated complex problem solving students on well-structured and higher-order application post-test problems — related
• Productive Failure Improves Conceptual Learning — a broader claim this one bears on
• Multiple representations improve learning — related
• Guidance during initial problem solving does not translate into better learning from subsequent instruction — related