Introducing Desirable Difficulties for Educational

Applications in Science

Robert A. Bjork, Lindsey Richland, Matt Hays, and Jason Finley

UCLA

Marcia C. Linn, Britte Cheng

UC Berkeley

Thanks to RAs: Dan Fink, Greg Cragg, Katy Cohanshohet, Asako Kumeya, Francis Yau, Kitty Goss, Tabby Dadvand

www.psych.ucla.edu/iddeas

Desirable Difficulties

• Design principles that have been found, in laboratory research, to impair performance during training but enhance performance at a delay

IDDEAS Introducing Desirable Difficulties for Educational Applications in Science

• Broad Goals: extend laboratory research on learning and memory to classroom environment, explore interactions b/w DDs

• Narrower Goal: Implement desirable learning difficulties in a web-based science module (WISE) for 8th graders, with aim of improving effectiveness of such modules

Presentation Schedule

Example Performance during training

Performance at a delay

Massed A,A,A,A,A better worse

Spaced A, A, A, A, A worse better

Spacing Effect

Presentation Order

Example Performance during training

Performance at a delay

Blocked A,A,A,A,A,B,B,B,B,B better worse

Interleaved A,B,B,A,B,A,A,B,A,B worse better

Interleaving Effect

Theories Explaining Interleaving

Contextual Interference (Battig, 1972, 1979)

• Reloading/ Reconstruction (e.g. Lee & Magill, 1983, 1985)

• Development of higher order framework/ Elaboration (Shea & Zimny, 1983, 1988)

• “It’s just the spacing effect”

Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE)

• A system/tool for scientific instruction

• Promotes knowledge integration, collaborative learning, visible thinking

• Contains modules on a wide variety of topics, with options to customize and to create new modules

• Plus: a useful research tool!

IDDEAS WISE Exp 3 Motivations

• Extend laboratory studies on interleaving to realistic educational material

• Focus on contextual interference as possible mechanism for interleaving effect

Learning Materials• 2 Sets of Learning Stimuli

– Planet Formation– Star Formation

• Examples– “Planets form in a disk of material around a star. This

circumstellar disk contains gases and tiny particles of metals; the total mass is several thousand times that of the planets that emerge from it.”

– “Solar systems, and the stars at their centers, begin as giant molecular clouds. These clouds are primarily made of hydrogen gas, but can also contain water vapor, nitrous oxide, ethanol, and molecules with carbon rings.”

2 Independent Variables

1. Presentation Order– Blocked (P,P,P,P,S,S,S,S)– Interleaved (P,S,S,P,S,P,P,S)

2. Competition due to Arrangement– Greater Competition (more similar slides

arranged together)– Less Competition (more similar slides arranged

apart)

Dependent Variable

• Performance on Post-Test (2-day delay)– Multiple-choice Qs– Fill-in-the-Blank Qs– Sorting Task

Design Overview

• 2 sets of learning stimuli• Planet Formation (P)• Star Formation (S)

• Presentation• Order: Blocked (P,P,P,P,S,S,S,S) vs. Interleaved

(P,S,S,P,S,P,P,S)• Competition by Arrangement: Greater vs. Less

• Post-Test• 48 hour delay

• Metacognition– Questionnaire given after learning and after test

RESULTS!!!

Performance on Star/Planet Sorting Task

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

blocked interleaved

Presentation Order

% Correct

greater competition

less competition

Metacognition

Future Directions?

• Different Material

• Interleaving w/ other Desirable Difficulties?