The Effect of Preferred Learning Materials on Transference of a Learned Skill

Summary

The questions investigated were (a) whether acquisition of conservation of number skill could be accelerated by training and (b) whether preferred training materials inhibited subsequent transfer of this skill. Ss were 22 male and female, white and Oriental five-year-olds, selected for lack of conservation skill. Three groups of five were given learning-set training, and one of these groups was trained on preferred materials. No differences in achievement were found in the training groups. A posttest assessing conservation skill was given to all Ss. An analysis of variance on all groups' posttest scores was significant. Neuman_rKeuls analysis showed that the group trained with preferred materials and a nontraining control group had significantly lower scores than the two remaining groups. Both hypotheses were thus supported.