Productive Failure: Examining the Impact of Need for Cognition and Cognitive Flexibility on Conceptual Learning in Chemistry

• Other Authors: Arrington, Thomas Logan (author)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: Instructional systems > Design
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/2018_Sp_Arrington_fsu_0071E_14375

Productive failure refers to an instructional strategy that tasks students with attempting to solve a complex and/or ill-structured problem prior to instruction about the topic. In their problem-solving attempts, the students are anticipated to fail. Failure is a subject of discussion in many theories related to learning (e.g., expertise and self-regulation). In these theories, failure is considered as a natural occurrence where the learners must identify a method to recover. However, recent literature has begun to investigate the efficacy of leading learners directly to experience failure as an instructional strategy. This study investigated the effectiveness of the instructional strategy “productive failure” in improving learners’ conceptual knowledge in chemistry. Productive failure is comprised of two phases, exploration and consolidation. Exploration refers to learners having the opportunity to generate multiple solutions to a problem (i.e., attempt to solve the problem through multiple representations). Consolidation refers to an event where learners refine, correct, and/or consolidate the knowledge generated in the exploration phase. The research on productive failure has traditionally used a complex and/or ill-structured problem during the exploration phase and teacher-led instruction in the consolidation phase. Thus, productive failure is defined as a preparation for future learning activity, in that the exploration phase prepares individuals to learn from the subsequent consolidation phase. Compared to other instructional strategies, productive failure has led to improved knowledge gains on concepts, whereas other learning outcomes result in minimal or no gain. While the efficacy of this approach has been documented throughout the literature, many of the learner characteristics moderating their success under this strategy have not been identified. The types of elements that lead to improved learning under this approach should relate to learners’ abilities to persist through the exploration phase and realize the connection among explored concepts during the consolidation phase. Two characteristics that fit these criteria are cognitive flexibility and need for cognition. Cognitive flexibility deals with a person’s ability to adapt to a learning situation and quickly restructure their way of thinking. Need for cognition refers to a learners’ disposition towards difficult activity. The purpose of this study was to document the effects of productive failure against direct instruction with practice on conceptual learning. Also, this study aimed to identify a moderating role between learners’ need for cognition and cognitive flexibility in their conceptual learning outcomes. In addition, the study investigated four exploratory hypotheses dealing with learners’ satisfaction and process variables of problem solving. The study occurred in an undergraduate chemistry course with 64 students enrolled at a research three university in the southeastern United States during the Fall 2017 semester. This study focused on the topic of chemical reactions, where learners were tasked with explaining molecular changes in a substance. Of the 64 students invited, 58 attended the session where the learners had an opportunity to consent. Of the 58 students, 52 consented to be a part of the study. Those 52 students were randomly assigned into one of the two conditions. Throughout the implementation of the study, six participants dropped out by not attending one or more sessions. This left a remaining 46 total students, with 24 in the direct instruction with practice condition and 22 in the productive failure condition. The difference between these groups was in the sequence of events. Learners in the productive failure condition were tasked to solve a complex problem before instruction on the topic (i.e., chemical reactions), whereas these events were reversed for participants in the comparison group. All participants completed five separate instruments: a demographic and background survey, the cognitive flexibility measure, the need for cognition measure, a satisfaction measure, and a knowledge test before and after instruction. In addition, information on learners’ problem solving performance (i.e., self-reported problem solving time and number of solutions generated) was gather in each group. A combination of t-tests and two-way ANOVAs were conducted to investigate the seven hypotheses laid out within this study. The results indicated that there was no significant difference between the conditions in their posttest scores (i.e., conceptual learning). While cognitive flexibility approached being a significant predictor, neither it nor need for cognition were significant factors impacting learning in either group. The exploratory hypotheses indicated that cognitive flexibility impacted the amount of time learners spent on problem solving, while need for cognition had no impact. Finally, learners’ satisfaction on productive failure was not originally equivalent but in a delayed measure there was no significant differences among the groups. The implications, limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed. === A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. === Spring Semester 2018. === March 27, 2018. === chemistry, conceptual knowledge, instructional design, productive failure === Includes bibliographical references. === Aubteen Darabi, Professor Directing Dissertation; Neil Charness, University Representative; James D. Klein, Committee Member; Insu Paek, Committee Member.