Barry J. Zimmerman

Concept Attainment, Transfer, and Retention Through Observation and Rule-Provision.

Abstract The effects of observing a model and of providing a response rule on the learning, transfer, and retention of a dial-reading, numerical concept were studied in 144 third graders. Different Es conducted the immediate learning procedures versus the measurements of retention. No extrinsic reinforcers were promised or dispensed. The children profited both from modeling and from rule-provision, with the strongest learning, transfer, and retention displayed by the group that watched the model and also received the rule summary. Sequence of presenting the sets of retention stimuli (including a series of novel generalization items not previously encountered) did not influence the strength of concept retention 6 weeks after training.

Observation, Repetition, and Ethnic Background in Concept Attainment and Generalization.

ZIMMERMAN, BARRY J., and ROSENTHAL, TED L. Observation, Repetition, and Ethnic Background in Concept Attainment and Generalization. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1972, 43, 605-613. Attaining and generalizing a new concept were studied in Mexicanand Anglo-American fifth graders. The design factorially compared ethnicity x modeling or nonmodeling training x repetition or nonrepetition of a rule summary. All children received feedback on correct responses during performance-phase trials. Both modeling and repetition improved performance. Prior-modeling groups reduced errors faster than nonmodeling groups, whose errors decreased in the last block of trials. Concept generalization was aided by modeling and, especially, by repetition which mainly determined later verbalization of the rule. Anglooutperformed Mexican-American children, but the major results held for both ethnic groups.

Conceptual Generalization and Retention by Young Children: Age, Modelingl, and Feedback Effects

Summary The effects of modeling and corrective feedback on conceptual rule acquisition and retention was studied with three- and four-year-old children. Brief observation of a model was effective in creating significant acquisition and retention of conceptual rule judgments and explanations. Corrective feedback improved the childs ability to explain the conceptual rule but did not assist nonverbal performance. The facilitative influence of corrective feedback was largely confined to the four-year-old age group. In general, four-year-old children were more successful than three-year-olds in learning to provide viable reasons for conceptual judgments. The pedagogical significance of these findings are discussed.

Concept Attainment and Problem Solving

This chapter highlights the problems that have explicit, unambiguous solutions. The advantage to this approach is that cognitive functions are studied under conditions less bounded by prior social mores and naturalistic precedents. Prompting observation with supplemental guidance does not always prove to be a boon. In solving problems and exemplifying concepts, models often modify the environment so that observers can examine the target patterns to be learned. Terminal arrangements of conceptual stimuli also convey useful knowledge. Observing the desired end-products aids the learners, helping them to infer the relevant solution. Even when all of the material aspects of stimuli change, observers maintain relational rules intact. Cognition is aided by analogies and similes, in operations to organize information. Vicariously derived concepts are mediated just like those acquired from any other learning method. The same rules are acquired from direct practice, though often less efficiently, or from statements of principles to verbally adept observers. In other cases, demonstration teaches better than verbal directions. Often, combining modeled examples with verbal guidance surpasses either technique used alone.

Language and Verbal Behavior

This chapter presents evidence that diverse modeling procedures can be powerful influences on language and verbal behavior. It discusses psycholinguistic reservations regarding modeling influences on language acquisition. It has appeared that many such concerns arose from misconceptions or narrow definitions of modeling, describing it as a limited process of mimicry or unit-to-unit matching. Modeling displays have been shown to be effective in promoting the adoption of numerous natural syntactic constructions including prepositional phrases, sentence arrangements, and verb tense forms. Modeling has also found to be effective in teaching language comprehension. Social cues appear to weigh heavily in young childrens extraction of meaning from events. Acquisition of both natural language and arbitrary grammar-like rules through modeling has been seen in laboratory studies. Language learning occurs in two separate phases. During the first phase, the child learns to comprehend or discriminate speech structures covertly. In the second phase, the child learns to use that structure in his or her own overt speech. The chapter also reviews naturalistic data, results indicating that speech demonstrations by natural models such as older children or mothers greatly affect the acquisition and usage of language by young children.

Cognition, Behavior Change, and Social Learning

This chapter explores cognition, behavior change, and social learning. Cognition is a generic term for any process whereby an organism becomes aware of or obtains knowledge of an object. It includes perceiving, recognizing, conceiving, and judging. The term cognition is also used to describe covert processing of information. The accomplishments of storage and retrieval are commonly cited as important cognitive processes. Research on storage and retrieval activities during learning and recall indicates that information is selectively coded and then elaborated. It, thus, appears that a learner makes a personal cognitive contribution during learning and recall. There are certain classes of human behavior that are described as cognitive, namely, those involving abstraction and transfer, where symbolic or logical activities during learning and responding seem particularly evident. Social learning theory represents a marriage of information processing concerns and behavioral emphases. In this synthesis, particular attention is given to the impact of social variables such as the behavior of models on human cognitive processes. Thus, symbolic and behavioral events are studied in natural situations that closely approximate transactions in everyday life.

Relational Judgments and Categorical Decisions

This chapter discusses modeling influences on the selection and utilization of abstract judgment standards. The basis of ethical decisions, originally emphasizing material damage, has been shifted to subjective intentions criteria. It discusses a few limitations of nativistic assumptions and rigid stage distinctions and the powerful role played by social exemplars. The chapter explores the phenomenon of conservation in terms of experimental evidence and conceptual status. In a variety of formats, social influences successfully promoted conservation by children younger than is possible according to current stage-dependent theories. The chapter also provides an overview of the importance of information and guidance provided by social agents and usage norms as an integrating framework for the development of cognitive standards.