Organizational/Memory Tools: A Technique for Improving Problem Solving Skills

Abstract

This study investigated an alternative to traditional computer-based instruction in problem solving. The computer presented an organizational/memory tool as an aid to a student's own strategies rather than direct instruction in specific strategies. Our goals were: 1) to determine whether students would use the tool and 2) whether and how locus of control would affect use of the tool and problem-solving performance. Our four experimental conditions varied in the locus of control of the tool and in the availability of informational feedback, from total computer control with feedback to total learner control without feedback. Results showed that learners diduseorganizational/memory tools when not required to do so and that tools were most effective in the learner control with feedback condition. Instructional treatment affected learners' perception of the role of the computer and of the value of the tool. Results indicated the need to adaptively decrease feedback, and to adapt instructional techniques as learning progresses.