When is observing failure productive? Investigating the role of solution diversity in vicarious failure.
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| Title: | When is observing failure productive? Investigating the role of solution diversity in vicarious failure. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Braas, Thomas C.1 (AUTHOR), Hartmann, Christian2,3,4 (AUTHOR) christian.hartmann@tum.de, Hoogerheide, Vincent1 (AUTHOR), Rummel, Nikol2,5 (AUTHOR), van Gog, Tamara1 (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Instructional Science. Dec2025, Vol. 53 Issue 6, p1715-1738. 24p. |
| Subject Terms: | *Mathematics education (Secondary), *Concept learning, *Failure (Psychology), *Teaching methods |
| Abstract: | Prior research has shown that Productive Failure (PF), where learners attempt (and fail) to solve a problem prior to receiving instruction, is more effective for conceptual knowledge acquisition than receiving instruction first (Direct Instruction; DI). Higher diversity in generated solution attempts seemed positively associated with conceptual knowledge acquisition. The present study investigated whether observing another student's attempts to solve the problem prior to receiving instruction (i.e., Vicarious Failure; VF) is as beneficial as PF for conceptual knowledge acquisition in mathematics and whether this depends on the diversity in the observed solution attempts. In the high solution diversity condition (VF-high), students observed five solution attempts that (taken together) included all four components of the to-be-learned canonical solution, while in the low diversity condition (VF-low), the solution attempts included only two of these components. Secondary education students (n = 152) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: PF, VF-high, VF-low, and Direct Instruction (DI). As expected, students in the VF-high condition significantly outperformed students in the VF-low and DI conditions and performed as well as students in the PF condition on the conceptual knowledge posttest. Surprisingly, the PF effect found in previous studies was not replicated, i.e., the PF condition descriptively seemed to outperform the DI condition, but this difference was not statistically significant. Our findings provide further insight into the mechanisms that explain why engaging with problems prior to instruction is effective, suggesting that students' activation of prior knowledge is more critical than whether they experience failure first hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Instructional Science is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Education Research Complete |
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| Header | DbId: ehh DbLabel: Education Research Complete An: 189211903 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: When is observing failure productive? Investigating the role of solution diversity in vicarious failure. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Braas%2C+Thomas+C%2E%22">Braas, Thomas C.</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Hartmann%2C+Christian%22">Hartmann, Christian</searchLink><relatesTo>2,3,4</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> christian.hartmann@tum.de</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Hoogerheide%2C+Vincent%22">Hoogerheide, Vincent</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Rummel%2C+Nikol%22">Rummel, Nikol</searchLink><relatesTo>2,5</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22van+Gog%2C+Tamara%22">van Gog, Tamara</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR) – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Instructional+Science%22">Instructional Science</searchLink>. Dec2025, Vol. 53 Issue 6, p1715-1738. 24p. – Name: Subject Label: Subject Terms Group: Su Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Mathematics+education+%28Secondary%29%22">Mathematics education (Secondary)</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Concept+learning%22">Concept learning</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Failure+%28Psychology%29%22">Failure (Psychology)</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teaching+methods%22">Teaching methods</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: Prior research has shown that Productive Failure (PF), where learners attempt (and fail) to solve a problem prior to receiving instruction, is more effective for conceptual knowledge acquisition than receiving instruction first (Direct Instruction; DI). Higher diversity in generated solution attempts seemed positively associated with conceptual knowledge acquisition. The present study investigated whether observing another student's attempts to solve the problem prior to receiving instruction (i.e., Vicarious Failure; VF) is as beneficial as PF for conceptual knowledge acquisition in mathematics and whether this depends on the diversity in the observed solution attempts. In the high solution diversity condition (VF-high), students observed five solution attempts that (taken together) included all four components of the to-be-learned canonical solution, while in the low diversity condition (VF-low), the solution attempts included only two of these components. Secondary education students (n = 152) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: PF, VF-high, VF-low, and Direct Instruction (DI). As expected, students in the VF-high condition significantly outperformed students in the VF-low and DI conditions and performed as well as students in the PF condition on the conceptual knowledge posttest. Surprisingly, the PF effect found in previous studies was not replicated, i.e., the PF condition descriptively seemed to outperform the DI condition, but this difference was not statistically significant. Our findings provide further insight into the mechanisms that explain why engaging with problems prior to instruction is effective, suggesting that students' activation of prior knowledge is more critical than whether they experience failure first hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Instructional Science is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1007/s11251-025-09706-x Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 24 StartPage: 1715 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Mathematics education (Secondary) Type: general – SubjectFull: Concept learning Type: general – SubjectFull: Failure (Psychology) Type: general – SubjectFull: Teaching methods Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: When is observing failure productive? Investigating the role of solution diversity in vicarious failure. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Braas, Thomas C. – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Hartmann, Christian – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Hoogerheide, Vincent – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Rummel, Nikol – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: van Gog, Tamara IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 12 Text: Dec2025 Type: published Y: 2025 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 00204277 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 53 – Type: issue Value: 6 Titles: – TitleFull: Instructional Science Type: main |
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