| Testing effect points out that testing is not only an assessment of learning,but also produces learning itself.Moreover,testing is more effective for long-term retention than restudying.A large number of empirical studies have found that testing can promote the learning of word lists,word pairs,prose passages,face-name pairs,visuo–spatial materials,etc.However,in these studies,both the use of laboratory materials and education-related materials mostly belong to fixed factual knowledge,and the learning content is the memory of items.Whether the learning of procedural knowledge,such as problem-solving learning,has a test effect remains to be determined.It is the basic goal of education to apply the learned knowledge to solve new problems.Therefore,it is of great significance to study which learning strategy is more effective to test and restudy in problem-solving learning,and whether learners will actively choose more effective learning strategies.Based on previous studies,this study used two experiments to investigate the influence of worked examples variability on testing effect in problem-solving learning and the effectiveness of learners’ testing choice in self-regulating problem-solving learning.In Experiment 1,the learning effects of restudy and testing in the immediate and delayed test were investigated by manipulating the variation level of the worked examples with identical and different materials.In Experiment 2,the subjects were asked to decide whether to choose problem-solving(testing)or continue learning(resudy)after learning a worked example to investigate the learning choice in problem-solving,and the effectiveness of self-regulated learning was studied through honor-dishonor paradigm.The conclusions of this study are as follows:(1)The testing effect still exists in problem solving learning.The relative effect of testing and restudy depends on the variability of the problem.Under the same problem conditions(low variability),the results support the testing effect;under different sample conditions(high variability),the results support the worked-example effect.(2)Problem variability has different effects on testing and restudy.Under the condition of restudy,the variability promotes learning;In the testing condition,the variability impeded learning,but this effect was reversed after a delay of 1 week.(3)There is no honor-dishonor advantage in self-regulated problem solving learning.That is,self-regulated learning did not produce significant effects.(4)In self-regulated problem-solving learning,students who are better at learning are more likely to choose tests.Regardless of the actual restudy or the test,the performance of the subjects who chose to test were better than those who chose to restudy in the final test;No matter what the subjects chose,actually restudying was more effective than testing. |
