Applying analogical reasoning to introductory-level synthesis problems

This study compared the effect of two types of interventions on subsequent student performance with a target synthesis problem. Students either solved two single-concept problems (priming) or compared worked solutions across one of four different analogical reasoning conditions. These four conditions varied according to the type of examples compared (single-concept vs. synthesis) and structural similarity to the target problem. Taken together, the analogical reasoning conditions performed significantly better than control (d=0.31). However, there were no significant differences between the different analogical reasoning conditions, or between analogical reasoning and priming. Although student responses on the target synthesis problem were similar across conditions, their responses to the analogical reasoning tasks showed potentially useful differences in referenced concepts and response grain size, from generic to more precise.