The effects of different types of adjunct questions on concept learning in college economics.

摘要

This study investigates the effects on concept learning from two different types of adjunct questions (factual and application) under different conditions (text review vs. no review, and posttest delay vs. immediate posttest) within a typical classroom setting. The theoretical foundation for this research is based on the information processing model and the works of Gagne and Rothkopf. The research question guiding this effort was whether or not the manipulation of certain external instructional events can cause learners to adapt their informational processing strategies to better recall facts and concepts, and to apply them to novel situations.; College students enrolled in five classes of the course, Principles of Economics, received six specially designed concept lessons and quizzes in booklet form over a fourteen-week period. Randomly formed groups received either factual or application adjunct questions. One group was allowed to review text, while another group was not allowed to review text before taking a quiz over each lesson. At the end of the treatment period, half of the learners took an immediate posttest covering the six lessons. The other half returned the following day for their posttest. An analysis of variance was performed on the data using the test scores as the dependent variable.; The results of the statistical analysis revealed that group means were higher for certain application groups and groups which were allowed to review the text. The results were not significant at the pre-chosen level of significance. However, given the realistic conditions of the study and the low cost of the treatments, the trend in the results seem important. The findings suggest that properly designed complex concepts and higher-order cognitive strategies can be taught.