Individual Differences in Learning Exemplars Versus Abstracting Rules: Associations with Exam Performance in College Science

Abstract

Students may do well answering exam questions that are similar to examples presented in class. Yet, some of these students perform poorly on exam questions that require applying instructed concepts to a new problem whereas others fare better on such questions. Our hypothesis is that these performance differences reflect, in part, individual differences in learners’ tendencies to focus on acquiring the particular exemplars and responses associated with the training exemplars (exemplar learners) versus attempting to abstract underlying regularities reflected in particular exemplars (abstraction learners). Using a web-based learning task developed in previous laboratory research, we differentiated students on this dimension, and then tracked their final exam performances in introductory chemistry courses. Abstraction learners demonstrated advantages over exemplar learners for transfer questions but not for retention questions. The results converge on the idea that individual differences displayed in how learners acquire and represent concepts persist from laboratory concept learning to learning complex concepts in science courses.