Single Template vs. Multiple Templates: Examining the Effects of Problem Format on Performance

Abstract

Classroom and lab-based research have shown the advantages of exposing students to a variety of problems with format differences between them, compared to giving students problem sets with a single problem format. In this paper, we investigate whether this approach can be effectively deployed in an intelligent tutoring system, which affords the opportunity to automatically generate and adapt problem content for practice and assessment purposes. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to compare students who practiced problems based on a single template to students who practiced problems based on multiple templates within the same intelligent tutoring system. No conclusive evidence was found for differences in the two conditions on students’ post-test performance and hint request behavior. However, students who saw multiple templates spent more time answering practice items compared to students who solved problems of a single structure, making the same degree of progress but taking longer to do so.