Static self-explanation prompts in the Geometry Cognitive Tutor produced greater gains on Reason and Not Enough Info test items than problem-solving practice alone¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2009 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Students who explained their steps with the tutor showed greater gains on Reason items and Not Enough Info transfer items than students who only solved problems. → Koedinger 2009

Evidence¶

Koedinger 2009¶

Koedinger, K. R., Aleven, V., Roll, I., & Baker, R. (2009). In vivo experiments on whether supporting metacognition in intelligent tutoring systems yields robust learning. In Handbook of Metacognition in Education. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203876428-29

q3 · i? · causal · r2

In vivo classroom experiment comparing an Explanation Condition of the Geometry Cognitive Tutor against the standard Problem Solving Condition, with pre- and post-tests on three item types. The explanation group showed "greater gains with respect to Not Enough Info items and with Reason items"; no effect size is printed.

"We found that students who had explained their steps during their work with the tutor showed greater gains with respect to Not Enough Info items and with Reason items than the students who solved problems without explaining their steps"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Self-explaining worked examples improve declarative knowledge of CDR strategies more than solving problems — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Students using a worked-example revised probability textbook improved more in probabilistic reasoning than students using the standard textbook — related
• Self-explanation support did not change Answer-item performance even though the explanation condition completed only half as many problems — related
• 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 effects hold on far-transfer but not near-transfer questions in a geometry classroom study — related
• Help Tutor metacognitive instruction produced no domain-level geometry learning gains and no lasting help-seeking procedural knowledge — related
• Tutor-based practice produced greater learning gains than paper-based practice on matched problem sets — related
• Learning from examples depends on the explaining mode: prompting principle-based self-explanations and guided comparison of examples improves transfer — related
• Galperin-based geometry instruction enabled poorly performing sixth graders to identify geometric items correctly, with 93% giving conceptual explanations — related