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An Inquiry into the Spontaneous Transfer of Problem-Solving Skill
Contemporary Educational Psychology
|November 14, 1997
Summary
Facilitating problem-solving skill transfer to new situations is crucial. This study found that common interventions like familiar scenarios or feedback did not significantly improve students' ability to spontaneously solve problems in unfamiliar contexts.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Educational Psychology
Background:
- Problem-solving is essential for learning and scientific advancement.
- Students develop skills like logic for transferring solutions to novel situations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify the minimum conditions required for spontaneous problem-solving skill transfer.
- To investigate interventions aimed at improving performance in unfamiliar contexts.
Main Methods:
- 175 subjects completed logically identical Wason selection tasks with varying familiarity.
- Pretest showed low performance in unfamiliar contexts (10.5%) vs. familiar (57.3%).
- Posttest assessed interventions: prior exposure, repeated practice, and feedback.
Main Results:
- None of the tested interventions effectively improved spontaneous problem-solving transfer to unfamiliar contexts.
- Performance in unfamiliar settings remained low despite interventions.
Conclusions:
- The minimum threshold for spontaneous transfer may exceed the tested interventions.
- Findings suggest limitations in current instructional approaches for promoting transfer.
- Further research is needed to explore more robust methods for facilitating skill transfer.
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