Influencing Factors Of The Expertise Reversal Effect Of Worked-Example Learning

The "worked-example effect" was discovered at the beginning of the worked-example study(Cooper&Sweller,1987).The worked-example effects means a effect of learning the problem-solving example is better than the problem-solving practice,while the beginners had general principle for this problem.And then,with the improvement of expertise level in the students’ problem-solving practice,the original worked-example learning effect that was effective for beginners would gradually disappear,and even the problem-solving practice would be better than the worked-example learning.Kalyuga and Sweller(2003)referred to it as the "expertise reversal effect".In the literature on the expertise reversal effect,the researchers found some important issues:firstly,the definition criteria for the expertise reversal effect were different.Secondly,in the experimental studies of the specific influencing factors of the expertise reversal effect in the worked-example learning,the standard of the student’s expertise levels and the levels of elemental interactivity of the learning materials were inconsistent.Inconsistent measurement indicators and inadequate controls of the worked-example designs and experimental variables had led to different experimental results and even contradictions.Although there had been some theoretical explanations for the expertise reversal effect,the influencing factors of the expertise reversal effect in the worked-example learning were still different and had not been validated by experiments.In response to the above problems,the author divided the definition criteria for the expertise reversal effect into two criteria:high and low.The pupils in the fourth,fifth and sixth grades were the subjects to solve the complex geometry area problems.The learning materials were the worked-examples and corresponding problem-solving practice.The student’s levels of expertise and the elemental interactivity levels of the learning materials which had been divided into three levels and the far and near migration test scores had been used as the measurement indicators of the learning effects in the experiments.The experimental variables had been strictly controlled and five experimental studies had been conducted.The effects of the three levels of expertise of the students on the expertise reversal effect of the worked-example learning had been investigated.The effects of three expertise levels and three elemental interactivity levels of the learming materials on the expertise reversal effect had been investigated.The effects of three expertise levels and two worked-example design orientations of the expertise reversal effect had been investigated.The effects of three expertise levels and two worked-example learning methods on the expertise reversal effect had been investigated.The effects of three levels of expertise and two series of decreasing worked-examples learning on the reversal effect had been investigated.As the experimental results indicated:(1)both far and near migration test scores of worked-example learning of those with high expertise had expertise reversal effect than those taking use of problem-solving practice;Worked-example learning of beginners brought about worked-example effect.(2)As for the learning of low interactivity materials,the migration scores of worked-example learning had been seen neither worked-example effect nor expertise reversal effect among tliree expertise levels.When learning materials with medium and high interactivity,worked-example learning of beginners had a worked-example effect;the worked-example learning migrant scores of low expertise students had been seen no expertise reversal effect;the worked-example learning of high-expertise learners had an expertise reversal effect.(3)both process-oriented and result-oriented worked-example learning migrant scores of beginners had an worked-example effect compared to those engaged in problem-solving practice;students with low expertise still had an worked-example effect on the near migrant scores of worked-example learning,and they had a low-standard expertise reversal effect on far migrant scores;those with high expertise had an high-criteria expertise reversal effect.Compared with result-oriented worked-example learning migrant scores,those with high expertise had a low-standard expertise reversal effect on the migrant scores of their worked-example learning.(4)worked-example effect was both seen on two learning models of "worked-example learning+problem-solving learning of the same difficulty" and "worked-example learning+problem-solving learning of different difficulties" compared to the migrant scores of those engaged in problem-solving practice,while students with high expertise see low-criteria expertise reversal effect.Compared with those taking use of "worked-example learning+problem-solving learning of different difficulties" learning model,students taking "worked-example learning+problem-solving learning of the same difficulty" had low-standard expertise reversal effect whether they were high expertise or low expertise.(5)Both beginners and low expertise students had worked-example effect on their migrant scores of "complete worked-example learning" and"reversal reducing worked-example" learning than "positive reducing worked-example learning",while those with high expertise had been seen low-standard expertise reversal effect.Both students with high or low expertise had low-standard expertise reversal effects on the migrant scores of "reversal reduce worked-example learning" than those of "positive reducing worked-example learning".According to the experimental results,the expertise reversal effect of worked-example learning is influenced by the expertise levels of students,interactivity of elemental interactivity level of learning materials,whether the worked-example design orientation,the combination model of worked-example learning and problem-solving practice,the reducing learning of worked-example,etc.Among all these influencing factors,the impact of interaction between expertise level and other four factors is the most prominent.