A Computer-Based Tutorial for Algebraic Representation: The Effects of Scaffolding on Performance During the Tutorial and on a Transfer Task
Edith Aurora Graf, Miriam Bassok, Earl Hunt and Jim Minstrell
Students have difficulty representing relational statements as algebraic equations (Clement, Lochhead, & Monk, 1981; Clement, Lochhead, & Soloway, 1979). This paper describes a tutorial designed to remediate this difficulty. The tutorial was an offshoot of work done with the DIAGNOSER program (Hunt & Minstrell, 1994; Levidow, Hunt, & McKee, 1991). Different versions of the tutorial were systematicall compared in terms of effectiveness. It was found that while some of the instructed techniques were certainly effective for improving performance during training, students did not apply these techniques outside the context of the tutorial.