No testing effect was found for acquiring problem-solving skills through worked example study across eight experiments¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2015 · checked against its sources 2026-10-21 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Across eight experiments with varied problem-solving tasks, student populations and practice test types, practice testing after worked example study showed no testing effect over restudy; two of the experiments (Leahy et al., experiments 1 and 2) used only an immediate final test, where restudy came out ahead. → van Gog 2015

Evidence¶

van Gog 2015¶

van Gog, T., & Sweller, J. (2015). Not New, but Nearly Forgotten: the Testing Effect Decreases or even Disappears as the Complexity of Learning Materials Increases. Educational Psychology Review, 27, 247–264. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-015-9310-x

q2 · i? · review · r2

The review's synthesis of the special-issue worked example experiments (van Gog et al., four experiments; Leahy et al., three experiments) plus van Gog and Kester (2012), all comparing practice testing after example study with further example study, concludes there was "no evidence was found that the testing effect would also apply when acquiring problem-solving skills through worked example study".

"no evidence was found that the testing effect would also apply when acquiring problem-solving skills through worked example study"

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Problem Solving — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Restudy of worked examples invested much less mental effort than testing after four examples, but this difference was not replicated with vocational students — related
• The training-by-content interaction did not vary with retention interval duration in the human experiment — related
• The worked example effect is explained by reduced element interactivity relative to problem solving, and reverses with expertise — related
• Teaching reflective questioning or using graphical representations improves procedural and conceptual knowledge across diverse populations — related
• Testing after studying four worked examples does not enhance delayed test performance compared with restudy among vocational education students in probability calculation (Experiment 4) — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Across eight delayed-test comparisons, testing showed a small numerical advantage over restudy, but confidence intervals were wide and the combined effect imprecise — related
• The testing effect has been demonstrated across a variety of mostly low-element-interactivity materials, but problem-solving tasks had received very little testing-effect research attention — related
• Testing after worked example study invests more mental effort than restudying examples, so restudy is more instructionally efficient at equal delayed performance (Experiment 3) — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Acquired skill of a very special sort influences other activities, sometimes helping and sometimes hindering them — related