When can a lack of structure facilitate strategic processing of information?
BACKGROUND
Researchers examining the effectiveness of an elaboration strategy (answering 'why') for learning new information have been concerned with the familiarity of the materials and how that affects learning. It may be, however, that both how information is organised and familiarity impact on the potency of the strategy.


OBJECTIVE
We examined the influence of presentation structures (i.e., organisation of information) on the effectiveness of an elaboration strategy.


METHODS
All participants were undergraduates (78 females, 67 males) enrolled in a first-year psychology course. Fifteen students participated in Experiment One, 42 students in Experiment Two, and 88 students in Experiment Three.


METHODS
In Experiment One, preference for conceptual organisation was assessed. In Experiments Two and Three, students answered 'why' questions when different presentation structures were used.


RESULTS
Students' preferred method of organisation did not match the imposed structure found in past research, suggesting that students may have been restricted in their ability to process the information distinctively. Students who were presented with the information in a random order achieved the largest memory scores.


CONCLUSIONS
When students have to reconstruct as well as encode the information, these added task demands provide an added benefit for learning.
Willoughby
Teena
T
Department of Child and Youth Studies, Brock University, St Catharines, Canada. twilloug@spartan.ac.brocku.ca
Wood
Eileen
E
Kraftcheck
Erin R
ER
D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011897:Random Allocation; D012718:Set, Psychology