Effects Of Learning Approaches On Transfer Effects Of Geometry Problem Solving For Three Levels Of Element Interactivity

Previous researches indicated that there was no clear answer as to which of the three learning approaches of worked-example learning,“problem solving practice” and “workedexample learning + problem solving practice” was better for the transfer effect of problem solving(Bokosmaty,Sweller & Kalyuga,2015;Likourezos & Kalyuga,2016;van Gog & Kester,2012;van Gog & Rummel,2010).Some studies also showed that the level of element interactivity could affect the transfer effect of the three learning approaches.However,there was still no experimental study comparing the transfer effects of three learning approaches with learning materials for three levels of element interactivity.Therefore,the materials were worked examples and practice of geometric figure area problems with low,medium and high levels of interactionthis study adopted the geometry problem of low,medium and high levels of element interactivity.The participants were Year 4 students from a primary school.Three experiments all compared the transfer effects of three learning approaches,using different material separately.In three experiments,the independent variable was learning approach(worked-example learning,“problem solving practice” and “worked-example learning + problem solving practice”),and the dependent variables were the performance of near and far transfer tests to test the transfer effects of three learning approaches.The results revealed that:(1)When the participants learned low level of element interactivity materials,mean performance of near transfer tests was better for the “problem solving practice” and “worked-example learning + problem solving practice” than workedexample learning,and mean performance of far transfer tests was better for the “problem solving practice” than worked-example learning and “worked-example learning + problem solving practice”.(2)When the participants learned medium level of element interactivity materials,mean performance of near and far transfer tests was better for the “worked-example learning + problem solving practice” than worked-example learning and “problem solving practice”,and mean performance of far transfer tests was better for the worked-example learning than and “problem solving practice”.(3)When the participants learned high level of element interactivity materials,mean performance of near transfer tests was better for the worked-example learning than “worked-example learning + problem solving practice” and “problem solving practice”,and mean performance of far transfer tests was better for the worked-example learning and“worked-example learning + problem solving practice” than “problem solving practice”.In conclusion,these results demonstrated that: Learning approaches obviously affected or restricted the transfer effect of three the level of element interactivity of learning materials.When learning material was low level of element interactivity,the transfer effect of “problem solving practice” was better than others;When learning material was medium level of element interactivity,the transfer effect of “worked-example learning + problem solving practice” was better than others;When learning material was high level of element interactivity,the transfer effect of worked-example learning was better than others.