The Effect of Dynamic Testing With Electronic Prompts and Scaffolds on Children’s Inductive Reasoning: A Microgenetic Study

Abstract

The study aimed to gain insight into children’s variability in inductive reasoning problem-solving strategies. Visual–spatial series completion tasks were employed that drew on the novel use of electronic tangibles. Two approaches were contrasted: repeated practice alone and repeated practice with the addition of dynamic training. Participants were 38 children aged 6–9 years, who were allocated to 1 of 2 treatment conditions. In condition one, children had opportunities for repeated practice on 4 sessions. The children in the second condition received the same repeated practice sessions but, in addition, were also provided with training. Transfer of learning was measured before and after the practice and training sessions. During the sessions, the children were presented with series completion tasks using tangible objects, each time with a 1–week interval. In comparison with the repeated practice alone condition, the children with additional training showed significantly greater gains in performance (accuracy and efficiency). Findings clearly showed inter- and intravariability in children’s use of problem-solving strategies, which decreased after training. There was evidence of transfer of inductive reasoning from the original series completion task (using concrete, discrete elements) to a series completion task with numbers and geometric forms. In summary, this study revealed individual differences and variability in the sorts of help required, (more) stable progression of these results, and the child’s ability to transfer learning to novel tasks and situations.