Problem-solving instruction and problem-solving transfer: The correspondence issue.

R. E. Mayer and A C. Wittrock (1996) have raised the specificity-generality issue as it applies to the teachable aspects of problem-solving transfer. Simply put, do the instructional practices that foster more efficient acquisition-learning of problem-solving strategies automatically foster more efficient problem-solving transfer? On the basis of the present findings the answer is "no." Four instructional conditions differing in levels of specificity produced different levels of acquisition. However, when the same students engaged in a delayed problem-solving task, comparable levels of problem-solving transfer performance were observed. In this case, a general approach to problem-solving instruction produced significantly poorer acquisition-learning performance but equally good problem-solving transfer performance. Results are discussed within the context of investigating prior knowledge (F Dochy, M. Segers, & A M. Buehl, 1999) and the identification of source memory (A. Koriat, M. Goldsmith, & A. Pansky, 2000) as a viable tool in this effort. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inductive problem solving: Schema inducement and memory-based transfer.

Studies of delayed transfer have been infrequent in contemporary work (M. L. Gick and K. J. Holyoak, 1987). Studies of immediate transfer by G. D. Phye (1986, 1987; see also PA, Vol 77:3557) have identified a general schema and a procedural schema as the basis for the transfer of analogical reasoning skills. This study addresses the question of memory-based processing when transfer is delayed. Ss were 183 college students. The training-for-transfer paradigm used to study immediate transfer was employed. Results indicate the use of both a general and a specific schema for retrieval when memory-based processing is required in order to demonstrate transfer within a problem domain. These data replicate and extend Phye's previous findings identifying induced schemata as a part of the architectural basis for cognitive transfer. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Schemata training and transfer of an intellectual skill.

Advice and feedback pertaining to analogical reasoning were manipulated to produce varying practice conditions for college-age Ss. Following training, Ss were administered a transfer task that was used to identify the transfer of a general or a specific procedural strategy for solving verbal analogies. Both a general transfer effect for verbal analogy solution and a procedural transfer effect for cause–effect relationships were obtained. These transfer effects were observed for both immediate and delayed transfer. Results are discussed within the theoretical context of schema theory (Royer, 1979, 1986) and Sternberg's (1985a) componential subtheory of intelligence. Data provide support for a schema-based interpretation of training and transfer within a subset and class of intellectual skills identified as inductive reasoning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)