The effects of interspersing brief and easy problems on choice of mathematics tasks

The matching law was established through the early animal research of Richard J. Herrnstein. He developed a series of mathematical equations which predict the relative behavioral responding of subjects when concurrent choices are present with different reinforcement schedules and under a variety of experimental conditions. Subsequent researchers further refined these mathematical equations in basic animal and human research.;Matching law research has also been extended to a variety of applied research settings. These have included behavioral interventions in residential treatment centers, behavioral assessment in classroom settings, concurrent academic tasks in educational settings, and industrial and organizational settings. Previous matching law research on academic tasks has utilized reinforcement schedules and stimulus presentation which would be difficult for classroom teachers to implement. Further academic research has examined the role of interspersing brief and easier tasks on choice of instructional level academic assignments. The majority of these studies have involved between-subject research designs or were conducted in contrived experimental conditions.;The focus of this study was to examine the utility of a computer mathematics program, designed for this study, which presented concurrent instructional level mathematics assignments in a manner consistent with previous matching law research. The concurrent presentation of a choice of instructional level mathematics problems interspersed with brief and easier problems versus an alternative choice of instructional level problems exclusively, was the independent variable under investigation. The percentage of time allocated to the left computer screen assignment was the primary dependent variable. Instructional level problem completion and accuracy and percentage of instructional level problems completed from the interspersed choice were also examined. This study was conducted in a classroom settings with four male subjects receiving special education services for specific learning disabilities in mathematics at a municipal high school. A multiple-baseline across subject reversal design was used. Computer presentation of research materials and data collection was used due to its ease of implementation by classroom teachers. The results of the study provided some evidence for behavioral responding consistent with matching law research in the absence of contingent secondary reinforcement. The results provide further implications for problem completion as a reinforcing event.