Role of Elaborations in Instructional Texts: Learning to Use the Appropriate Procedure at the Appropriate Time

摘要

This research investigates the kinds of information that should be included in instructional texts that teach skills (such as manuals or textbooks). It focuses on an important subcomponent of skill learning; choosing the right procedure at the right time. Learning to choose the right procedure is difficult in skills such as using a computer because the connection between real-world goals and the generic procedures described in a manual is often obscure. Furthermore, when several procedures have similar functions, it is difficult to tell which one is best for a particular situation. In order to facilitate the decision process, instructional tests may include advice about when to use particular procedures and may illustrate the advice with examples. The research reported here investigated the effect of various forms of advice on learners' strategies for choosing a procedure. Subjects read one of four versions of a manual for a computer game called Box-World. Three versions contained advice about when to use particular game procedures; the advice was either stated as a simple verbal rule or elaborated with one of two types of examples. The fourth version contained no advice. Subjects then performed three tasks: a recall task, a recognition task (i.e., discriminating between correct and incorrect applications of the advice), and a decision task (i.e., solving problems for which the advice was relevant). Subjects who saw certain forms of the advice were equally able to solve the problems correctly. (Author)