Structuring the discovery process can outperform unstructured environments, but effects depend on learner characteristics and the knowledge test used¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · reviewr3·q2
Currency · newest study 1998 · 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.
q2 i? Providing a sequence of experimentation steps with detailed directions led up to two and four times as many students to distinguish central heat and temperature concepts compared to an unstructured version. → Ton de Jong 1998
Evidence¶
Ton de Jong 1998¶
Ton de Jong, Wouter R. van Joolingen. (1998). Scientific Discovery Learning with Computer Simulations of Conceptual Domains. Review of Educational Research. https://telearn.hal.science/hal-00190680v1
q2 · i? · review · r3
The review reports Linn and Songer's structured simulation curriculum with experimentation steps (before, during, after doing the experiment); "up to two and four times as many students" distinguished central concepts versus the unstructured version; these are descriptive proportions, no effect size printed.
"They report that up to two and four times as many students were able to distinguish between central concepts from the domain (heat and temperature) compared to a version that was not structured."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Minimal guidance is less effective for novices than explicit instruction — a broader claim this one bears on
- Teacher Guided Inquiry Outperforms Student Led — related
- Inquiry Based Teaching Improves Science Achievement — related
- Productive Failure Improves Conceptual Learning — related
- Guided play outperforms direct instruction or free play on a few early-childhood outcomes, with no reliable difference on most others, in one meta-analysis — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
structuring-discovery-process-effects |
title |
Structuring the discovery process can outperform unstructured environments, but effects depend on learner characteristics and the knowledge test used |
description |
Structuring the discovery process can outperform unstructured environments, but effects depend on learner characteristics and the knowledge test used |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
mixed |
newest_evidence |
1998 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-16 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — ton-de-jong-1998 |
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