Richard H. Hall

Effects of Scripted Cooperation and Knowledge Maps on the Processing of Technical Material.

This study replicates and extends prior investigations of scripted cooperation and knowledge maps by examining (a) their independent and interactive effects on procedural knowledge acquisition and (b) the transfer of these effects to individual learning. The instrumental uses and limitations of knowledge maps are discussed

Dyadic learning of technical material: Individual differences, social interaction, and recall

Abstract To examine the relationships among individual differences, interaction, and recall, students were paired with same-sex partners to read and study a passage describing a piece of technical equipment. This material included both procedural information (“how-to” statements) and structural/functional information (the organization and function of parts of the equipment). Both partners read the material, stopping periodically to summarize the information to one another. The verbal interactions of each of the pairs were audiotaped. Several individual difference measures were administered as well as free- and cued-recall tests over the studied material. Results revealed that verbal ability and field-independence were positively related to the recall of structural/functional information which included pictures of the equipment. Also, higher scores on a measure of “deep processing” (the ability to critically evaluate and compare and contrast information) facilitated the recall of procedural information. With regard to verbal interaction, it was found that those verbal utterances that were directly related to the content of the passage enhanced recall of the information presented visually. Several interpretations and implications of these results are discussed.

Promoting Functional Literacy through Cooperative Learning

The effects of cooperative learning strategy manipulations on the enactment and recall of a medical procedure were explored. One hundred and twenty-three college students completed the experiment. During training, participants were randomly assigned to a dyad in one of four conditions: (a) no-strategy, (b) baseline strategy, (c) prompting strategy, and (d) planning strategy. During testing, participants both performed and produced written recalls of the procedure instructions. Test order was counterbalanced within dyad. Training and test performances were videotaped. The planning group produced the best recalls and recalled more conditions of the procedure. The prompting group performed best. Recall of the procedure in all groups was enhanced by prior performance. However, performance was enhanced by prior recall in only two groups. The groups differed also in the nature of the transition from training to testing. Theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed.