COMPARISONS BETWEEN TRADITIONAL AND PROGRAMMED LEARNING AS A FUNCTION OF PASSIVE PERFORMANCE AND ACTIVE APPLICATION AND TIME TILL APPLICATION

Abstract

Three groups of university students, in all 268 of both sexes, were taught with either two traditional and one programmed learning methods, each group receiving a different method. Immediately thereafter, all subjects received an achievement test. Later, a practical application test was given for half of the study groups immediately, and for the other half one day later. The hypothesis that programmed learning is superior to traditional teaching if the comparison is founded on a test measuring passive achievement (and the testing occurs immediately after learning) was confirmed. The opposite relation, that traditional teaching is superior to programmed learning in practical application, was confirmed regarding the teaching group where the students were given questions relating to practical application. The hypothesis that the superiority of traditional teaching in practical application would be more evident in a test given after a lapse of time than in tests which are given immediately after teaching and learning was confirmed regarding the active form of traditional teaching. The other traditional teaching group, where the students only listened to the teachers’ presentation of the material, showed the same performance relations as the group which received programmed learning as regards the differences in time delay of the practical application.