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Operant Procedures for Assessing Behavioral Flexibility in Rats
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Developing procedural flexibility: are novices prepared to learn from comparing procedures?

Bethany Rittle-Johnson1, Jon R Star, Kelley Durkin

  • 1Department of Psychology and Human Development, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37203, USA. johnson@vanderbilt.edu

The British Journal of Educational Psychology
|August 14, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Comparing multiple math procedures early helps students become flexible problem solvers. Immediate comparison of methods improved procedural flexibility, even after one month.

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Area of Science:

  • Educational Psychology
  • Mathematics Education

Background:

  • Developing procedural flexibility is crucial for problem-solving, but students often struggle in mathematics.
  • Current teaching standards suggest early exposure to and comparison of multiple procedures to foster this skill.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To experimentally evaluate the effectiveness of early comparison of multiple procedures for enhancing procedural flexibility in mathematics.
  • To compare this practice against delayed exposure to multiple procedures, with or without comparison.

Main Methods:

  • Eighty-nine 8th-grade students were randomly assigned to one of three instructional conditions for learning multi-step equation solving.
  • Assessments included pre-tests, post-tests, and 1-month retention tests measuring procedural knowledge, procedural flexibility, and conceptual knowledge.

Main Results:

  • Students who immediately compared multiple procedures demonstrated significantly greater procedural flexibility.
  • This enhanced flexibility was maintained one month later.
  • Instructional condition had minimal direct effect on conceptual and procedural knowledge, but flexibility correlated positively with both.

Conclusions:

  • Comparing procedures early in instruction is an effective strategy for developing novice mathematical problem-solving flexibility.
  • This approach may be a key factor in fostering procedural flexibility in students.