Automation and schema acquisition in learning elementary computer programming: Implications for the design of practice

Two complementary processes may be distinguished in learning a complex cognitive skill such as computer programming. First, automation offers task-specific procedures that may directly control programming behavior, second, schema acquisition offers cognitive structures that provide analogies in new problem situations. The goal of this paper is to explore what the nature of these processes can teach us for a more effective design of practice. The authors argue that conventional training strategies in elementary programming provide little guidance to the learner and offer little opportunities for mindful abstraction, which results in suboptimal automation and schema acquisition. Practice is considered to be most beneficial to learning outcomes and transfer under strict conditions, in particular, a heavy emphasis on the use of worked examples during practice and the assignment of programming tasks that demand mindful abstraction from these examples

Plan-based delivery composition in intelligent tutoring systems for introductory computer programming

In a shell system for the generation of intelligent tutoring systems, the instructional model that one applies should be variable independent of the content of instruction. In this article, a taxonomy of content elements is presented in order to define a relatively content-independent instructional planner for introductory programming ITS's; the taxonomy is based on the concepts of programming goals and programming plans. Deliveries may be composed by the instantiation of delivery templates with the content elements. Examples from two different instructional models illustrate the flexibility of this approach. All content in the examples is taken from a course in COMAL-80 turtle graphics

Het Ontwerpen van Leertaken binnen de Wetenschappen:‘Four-Components Instructional Design’ als Generatief Ontwerpmodel

Van Merriënboer, J.J.G. (2005). Het ontwerpen van leertaken binnen de wetenschappen: Four-components instructional design als generatief ontwerpmodel. Inaugurale rede uitgesproken op 8 juni 2005 bij aanvaarding van de Leerstoel Ererector Verhaegen aan de Universiteit Hasselt, België

Personalised adaptive task selection in air traffic control: Effects on training efficiency and transfer.

Salden, R.J.C.M., Paas, F., & Van Merriënboer, J.J.G. (2006). Personalised adaptive task selection in air traffic control: Effects on training efficiency and transfer. Learning and Instruction, 16, 350-362The differential effects of four task selection methods on training efficiency and transfer in a computer-based training for Air Traffic Control were investigated. Two personalised conditions were compared with two corresponding yoked control conditions. The hypothesis that personalised adaptive task selection leads to more efficient training than non-adaptive task selection was partially confirmed. However, the hypothesis that adaptive task selection based on personalised efficiency leads to more efficient training than adaptive task selection based on personalised preference was not supported. The results are discussed and suggestions are given for future research

Effects of Process-Oriented Worked Examples on Troubleshooting Transfer Performance

Van Gog, T., Paas, F., & Van Merriënboer, J. J. G. (2006). Effects of processoriented worked examples on troubleshooting transfer performance. Learning and Instruction, 16, 154-164.In the domain of electrical circuits troubleshooting, a full factorial experiment investigated the hypotheses that a) studying worked examples would lead to better transfer performance than solving conventional problems, with less investment of time and mental effort during training and test, and b) adding process information to worked examples would increase investment of effort during training and enhance transfer performance; whereas adding it to conventional problems would increase investment of effort, but would not positively affect transfer performance. The first hypothesis was largely confirmed by the data; the second was not: adding process information indeed resulted in increased investment of effort during training, but not in higher transfer performance in combination with worked examples

Uncovering Expertise-Related Differences in Troubleshooting Performance: Combining Eye Movement and Concurrent Verbal Protocol Data

This study explored the value of eye movement data for uncovering relatively small expertise-related differences in electrical circuit-troubleshooting performance, and describes that value in relation to concurrent verbal protocols. Results show that in the ‘problem orientation’ phase, higher expertise participants spent relatively more time, had a shorter mean fixation duration, and fixated more on a major fault-related component than lower expertise participants. In the ‘problem formulation’ part of the ‘problem formulation and action decision’ phase, the mean fixation duration of the higher expertise participants was longer. In the ‘action evaluation and next action decision’ phase, higher expertise participants spent relatively more time than the lower expertise participants. Over the different phases, only the mean fixation duration of the higher expertise participants differed significantly. The relation between the eye movement and concurrent verbal protocol data is qualitatively described. The results are discussed in perspective of the combined value of eye tracking and concurrent reports for expertise research and instructional design