Task Complexity and order Effects in Computer Presentation of Water Jar Problems

How are solutions of complex water jar problems influenced by starting with the simplest or the next simplest problem? The problems have been described as difficult variants of our water jar problems and as belonging to the class of MOVE problems that includes the Tower of Hanoi task. They were presented on a computer to 200 college students tested under eight conditions. With the simpler problem presented first rather than second, there were significant influences on the results: more solutions of each of five problems; more use of an illustrated initial direction; different preferences for initial left- or right-path solutions; shorter solutions; and reversed effects of the computer display of all the student's steps or only the most recent step. The results were discussed in terms of previous findings, memory processes, Einstellung and primacy effects, influences of timing, stress, and failure, declarative and proc6edural distinction, and educational implications.