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The Sources of Children's Errors during Nonisomorphic Analogical Transfer: Script Theory and Structure Mapping Theory
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|June 1, 1996
Summary
Children effectively transferred problem-solving strategies to new, complex problems. However, they struggled to adapt existing knowledge when new constraints required significant procedural change, indicating challenges in flexible cognitive adaptation.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Educational Psychology
Background:
- Analogical transfer is crucial for learning and problem-solving.
- Understanding how children adapt existing knowledge to new situations is key to educational strategies.
- Previous research often focuses on isomorphic (structurally identical) transfer.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate nonisomorphic analogical transfer in children.
- To examine how procedural change and new constraints affect problem-solving adaptation.
- To identify the specific difficulties children face when modifying existing problem-solving strategies.
Main Methods:
- 96 second and third graders participated.
- Hybrid versions of classic problems (missionaries/cannibals, jealous husbands) were used.
- Factorial design combined acquisition and transfer tasks with varying constraints.
Main Results:
- Children adeptly applied base strategies to nonisomorphic problems.
- Response times for initial moves in transfer were similar to isomorphic transfer.
- Many children made errors when modifying strategies due to new constraints, showing confusion.
Conclusions:
- Children demonstrate robust analogical transfer capabilities even with nonisomorphic problems.
- Difficulty arises when adapting existing strategies requires significant modification to accommodate new constraints.
- Inflexibility in incorporating novel constraints into existing problem structures hinders successful transfer in complex scenarios.