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Are instructional explanations more effective in the context of an impasse?

Instructional Science volume 37, pages 537–563 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Effective instructional explanations help the students to construct coherent mental representations. To do so, one condition is that they must be tailored to students’ needs. It is hypothesized that explanations are more helpful if they also explicitly aid the students to detect problems in their mental representations, as this provokes an impasse that motivates students to process the explanation deeply. Participants were provided with a computer-based material on plate tectonics and then with explanatory support in the form of either a tailored explanation preceded by an impasse-trigger (I + E group) or an identical explanation without the impasse-trigger (noI + E group). After the reading of the materials they solved retention and transfer tests; their flawed ideas were also counted. Participants in the I + E group recalled more correct information, generated more transfer solutions, and showed fewer flawed ideas than those in the noI + E group. This indicates that tailored explanations combined with impasse-triggers that make explicit conflicts between the text model and the students′ models can indeed foster deep learning.

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Fig. 1

Notes

  1. The impasse-trigger in italics. The rest being a piece of an instructional explanation. This is also true for the example below.

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Acknowledgements

Emilio Sánchez is supported by a program from the Ministerio de Educación (Spain), project SEJ2006-13464. Héctor García-Rodicio is supported by a grant from the Fondo Social Europeo and the Junta de Castilla & León. Acuña is supported by the PROMEP-SEP (México).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    Emilio Sánchez & Héctor García-Rodicio

  2. Department of Psychology, UAEM Morelos State University, Cuernavaca City, Mexico

    Santiago R. Acuña

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  1. Emilio Sánchez
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  2. Héctor García-Rodicio
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  3. Santiago R. Acuña
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Correspondence to Héctor García-Rodicio.

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Sánchez, E., García-Rodicio, H. & Acuña, S.R. Are instructional explanations more effective in the context of an impasse?. Instr Sci 37, 537–563 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-008-9074-5

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