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When is Assistance Helpful to Learning? Results in Combining Worked Examples and Intelligent Tutoring
journal contribution
posted on 2008-01-01, 00:00 authored by Bruce M McLaren, Sung-Joo Lim, Kenneth R KoedingerWhen should instruction provide or withhold assistance? In three
empirical studies, we have investigated whether worked examples, a highassistance
approach, studied in conjunction with tutored problems to be solved,
a mid-level assistance approach, can lead to better learning. Contrary to prior
results with untutored problem solving, a low-assistance approach, we found
that worked examples alternating with isomorphic tutored problems did not
produce more learning gains than tutored problems alone. However, the
examples group across the three studies learned more efficiently than the
tutored-alone group. Our studies, in conjunction with past studies, suggest that
mid-level assistance leads to better learning than either lower or higher level
assistance. However, while our results are illuminating, more work is needed to
develop predictive theory for what combinations of assistance yield the most
effective and efficient learning.