Biology instructors should be open to implementing PS-I approaches in introductory courses¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 7 claims (2 for, 3 mixed, 2 against) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 7 claims rest on one study

Description¶

Based on Experiment 1, the article recommends that instructors of introductory biology consider problem-solving-first sequencing. The authors state that "biology instructors should be open to implementing PS-I approaches in introductory courses", since low prior-knowledge students benefited on near-transfer problems even though they performed poorly during the initial problem-solving phase. The recommendation is scoped to introductory contexts and near-transfer outcomes.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• PS-I implementation should follow productive failure guidelines, including prompts to generate possible solutions and compare sub-problems, followed by explicit instruction

Constraints¶

• The recommendation rests on near-transfer results only; far-transfer effects were not significant, and Experiment 2 suggests PS-I may hinder learning for students with higher prior knowledge

Target Learners¶

• introductory undergraduate biology students with low topic-specific prior knowledge

Target Learning Goals¶

• applying causal mechanistic knowledge of noncovalent interactions to similar problems

Affordances¶

• I Ps Vs Ps I Competing Theoretical Accounts

Claims¶

• For introductory biology students with low topic-specific prior knowledge, problem-solving-first (PS-I) outperformed instruction-first (I-PS) on a near-transfer test [+W]
• In Experiment 1, I-PS students solved the initial problem better but PS-I students learned more from the subsequent instructional video [+W]
• In Experiment 2, I-PS students outperformed PS-I students on problem-solving, idea generation, and embedded video quizzes [-W]
• For biochemistry students with relatively higher topic-specific prior knowledge, instruction-first (I-PS) outperformed problem-solving-first (PS-I) on a near-transfer test [-W]
• Neither instructional sequence produced significant far-transfer effects in either experiment [~W]
• Prior knowledge score did not significantly moderate the sequence effect within either experiment, though each experiment covered a restricted prior-knowledge range [~W]
• The relationship between learners' prior knowledge and the optimal instructional sequence may not be straightforward [~W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Cheng-Wen He, Logan Fiorella, Paula P. Lemons. (2025). Does Instruction-First or Problem-Solving-First Depend on Learners' Prior Knowledge? Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-025-09993-3