Adding a self-explanation feature to a base game improved transfer performance¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r? · q2
Currency · newest study 2014 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Students who played the base version of The Circuit Game plus prompts to self-explain each major decision performed better on solving transfer problems than students who played the base version alone. → Mayer 2014

Evidence¶

Mayer 2014¶

Mayer, Richard E. (2014). Computer Games for Learning: An Evidence-Based Approach. The MIT Press. http://direct.mit.edu/books/monograph/4028/bookpreview-pdf/2362507

q2 · i? · causal · r?

Value-added study conducted in the author's UCSB lab comparing students who played the base version of The Circuit Game with those who played it with self-explanation prompts. The "base plus self-explanation group performed better than the base group" on transfer problems. No effect size is printed in the text.

"The base plus self-explanation group performed better than the base group on solving transfer problems on a embedded test, indicating that adding an instructional feature based on self-explanation improved student learning."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Prompting learners to self-explain improves understanding and problem solving on immediate tests by a moderate average amount, with little evidence yet on delayed or classroom gains. — a broader claim this one bears on
• Self-explanation beats unguided studying for equal time, but instructional explanations, problem solving and retrieval practice can be equally or more effective — related
• Prompting learners to self-explain, one generative strategy, improves learning by a moderate average amount; other generative activities are not tested by the evidence recorded here — a broader claim this one bears on
• Explaining one's own potentially incorrect ideas can reduce learning, while explaining known-correct content supports it — related
• Backward fading and principle prompts supported transfer in probability learning — related
• Learning from examples depends on the explaining mode: prompting principle-based self-explanations and guided comparison of examples improves transfer — related