Individual Differences in Learning from an Intelligent Discovery World: Smithtown

摘要

Smithtown is an intelligent computer program designed to enhance an individual'sscientific inquiry skills as well as to provide an environment for learning principles of basic microeconomics. It was hypothesized that intelligent computer instruction on applying effective interrogative skills (e.g., changing one variable at a time while holding all else constant) would ultimately lead to the acquisition of the specific subject matter. This paper presents an evaluation of Smithtown in two studies of individual differences in learning. Experiment 1 an exploratory study, demonstrated that Smithtown fared very well when compared to traditional instruction on economics and indicated the performance indicators which separated better from worse learners in this discovery microworld environment. Experiment 2 extended the findings from the exploratory study using a large sample of subjects (N = 530) from a different population interacting with Smithtown and showed that the performance indicators relating to hypothesis generation and testing were the most predictive of successful learning in Smithtown, accounting for considerably more of the variance in our learning criterion than a measure of general intelligence. Tutoring on scientific skills resulted in increased knowledge of microeconomics. The differentiating behaviors between more and less successful subjects were in agreement with specific behaviors relating to individual differences found in general studies on problem solving and concept formation. From an instructional perspective, the behaviors we have denoted can serve as a focal point for relevant intervention studies. (sdw)