Differential Impact of Learning Activities Designed to Support Robust Learning in the Genetics Cognitive Tutor

This paper describes two types of Conceptually Grounded Learning Activities designed to foster more robust learning in the Genetics Cognitive Tutor: interleaved worked examples and genetic-process reasoning scaffolds. We report three empirical studies that evaluate the impact of these learning activities on three diverse genetics problem-solving topics in the tutor. We found that interleaved worked examples yielded less basic-skill learning than conventional problem solving, unlike many prior ITS studies of worked examples. We also found preliminary evidence that scaffolded reasoning tasks in conjunction with conventional problem solving leads to more robust understanding than conventional problem solving alone. Implications for the use of contextually grounded learning activities are discussed.