Brief Description:

The authors designed an experimental procedure which was intended to test the relative effectiveness of deductive versus inductive learning strategies in science. The instructional design incorporated computer-based tutorials and simulations which provided feedback via comprehension monitoring and registered the response confidence of students employed in the study.

For the overall purposes of evaluation, deductive learning was defined as the tutorial combined with either a structured or unstructured simulation, while inductive learning was defined as either the structured or unstructured simulation without the tutorial.

A control group which received neither the tutorial nor the simulation was used to compare and contrast results with those gathered in the other two definitions. Results showed that students were only successful when learning the content of the instruction through using a tutorial. presentations.

Impressions:

Inductive reasoning is usually associated with empirical learning, so it is not really surprising that the methodologies employed in this study failed to make any connection with this learning mode. In the first place, the basic instruction was provided through computer-based simulations, which are still a form of passive learning and not really suitable for "hands-on" type of learning experiences which are at the heart of inductive learning situations. Ordinarily, in scientific research, only the broadest of outlines of a hypothesis are available and research must be conducted through an inductive process in order to arrive at meaningful conclusions.

Should we read the article?

This article is interesting, but it really does not say much about what it was intended for, and that is to compare and contrast the effect of computer-based simulations in deductive or inductive patterns of reasoning. The authors indicated that they believed that some inductive learning could have occurred if the learners were provided with some guidance. Somehow, this appears to defeat the purpose of inductive learning, because it places an element of deductional reasoning in the process. By employing the simulations in the manner they did, the authors failed to make any realistic connection with their stated purpose.