The impact of goal specificity and goal type on learning outcome and cognitive load.
Two hundred and thirty three 15-year old students conducted experiments within a computer-based learning environment. They were provided with different goals according to an experimental 2x2 design with goal specificity (nonspecific goals versus specific goals) and goal type (problem solving goals v...
| Publicado en: | Computers in Human Behavior Vol. 25; no. 2; pp. 299 - 306 |
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| Autores principales: | , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Elsevier Science
March 2009
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=508048340&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 508048340 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 07475632 JC4 jtl: Computers in Human Behavior issn: 07475632 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: March 2009 vid: 25 iid: 2 pid: 2410 pub: Elsevier Science artinfo: ui: 508048340 10.1016/j.chb.2008.12.004 ppf: 299 ppct: 7 formats: tig: atl: The impact of goal specificity and goal type on learning outcome and cognitive load. aug: au: Wirth, Joachim Künsting, Josef Leutner, Detlev su: Goal (Psychology) Learning by discovery Problem solving Short-term memory Cognitive psychology research sug: subj: Goal (Psychology) Learning by discovery Problem solving Short-term memory Cognitive psychology research keyword: Cognitive load ab: Two hundred and thirty three 15-year old students conducted experiments within a computer-based learning environment. They were provided with different goals according to an experimental 2x2 design with goal specificity (nonspecific goals versus specific goals) and goal type (problem solving goals versus learning goals) as factors. We replicated the findings of other researchers that nonspecific problem solving goals lead to lower cognitive load and better learning than specific problem solving goals. For learning goals, however, we observed this goal specificity effect only on cognitive load but not on learning outcome. Results indicate that the goal specificity affects the element interactivity of a task and cognitive load with both, problem solving goals or learning goals. But differences in overall cognitive load are not sufficient for explaining differences in learning outcome. Additionally, differences in strategy use come into play. Specific problem solving goals seem to restrict students to use a problem solving strategy whereas nonspecific problem solving goals or learning goals allow students to use a learning strategy. We conclude that in order to foster learning, students must be provided with goals that allow them to use a learning strategy. Additionally, providing them with nonspecific goals decreases cognitive load and, thus, enables students to learn with less effort. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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