Instruction, example order, and student learning: reducing extraneous cognitive load by providing structure for elaborated examples

ABSTRACT

This experiment examined learning differences between students who read instructional examples that varied in the order that information was presented. In an online lesson about advice giving, 275 students were randomly assigned to a learning condition where the order of instructional information moved either from (a) concrete examples to abstract definitions or from (b) abstract definitions to concrete examples. Data were analyzed to examine differences in students’ test scores as a consequence of their perceived extraneous cognitive burden. Results of a mediation model revealed that, compared with students exposed to concrete examples first, students who initially read an abstract definition scored higher on a test of recall and application because they experienced less of a cognitive burden impeding their learning. Results from this experiment provide preliminary evidence that the ordering of examples matters when attempting to optimize student learning.

KEYWORDS:

• examples
• learning
• concrete
• fading
• abstract

Notes on contributors

San Bolkan (Ph.D., University of Texas, Austin, 2007) is a Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Long Beach State University.

Alan K. Goodboy (Ph.D., West Virginia University, 2007) is a Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at West Virginia University.