Learner Achievement and Attitudes under Different Paces of Transitioning to Independent Problem Solving

This study examined the effect of the pace of transitioning from worked examples to independent problem solving for students with three different levels of prior knowledge. Three paces of transitioning were examined: immediate transitioning, fast fading, and slow fading. The study was conducted with engineering college freshmen in the engineering knowledge domain of introductory electrical circuit analysis and found a significant interaction between the particpants’ prior knowledge and the pace of transitioning to independent problem solving on retention posttest performance. The high prior knowledge participants achieved significantly higher retention scores under the fast and immediate transitioning than under the slow transitioning, whereas the low prior knowledge participants achieved significantly higher retention scores under the slow transitioning. The interaction result for retention indicates that by selectively employing slow fading for low prior knowledge learners and fast fading or immediate transitioning for high prior knowledge learners, significant improvements in learning may be achieved.