Efficiency in Learning
The Problem.?Recent literature on the psychology of learning has displayed an en couraging tendency to emphasize the points of agreement rather than the differences among learning theories. Insight was for merly taken to mean immediate solution of a problem without any tentative exploration, and many disputes have raged over its role in learning. There now seems to be general agreement that insight should be described as the perception of essential relationships in the learning situation, that it may occur in greater or lesser degree along with trial-and error learning, and that it may be "foresight" or "hindsight" (i, 2, 3). With this agreement on the crucial role of insight in learning, particularly in that kind of learning called problem solving, the way is cleared for constructive research in finding the best means of gaining insight in learning situations. This study attempts to test at three levels of maturity the relative efficiency of three methods of learning in aiding the learner to gain insight in a learning situation in which a complex mental problem must be solved. Specifically, the study attempts to answer experimentally the following ques tions: 1. Are memorizing, the use of a simple verbal principle or rule, and the use of non verbal clues that may aid the learner to formulate the principles of the problem effi cient methods of learning to solve problems? 2. What is the relative efficiency of these methods at the junior high school level, the senior high school level, and the college level, as measured by the ability to make an imme diate transfer to new but similar problems? 3. What is the relative efficiency of these methods at each level as measured by the retention of learned material? 4. What is the relative efficiency of these methods as measured by the ability to make a delayed transfer to new problems? 5Is the mental age of the learner a more important factor in learning than the method of learning? The Experimental Material.?The learning material used in the experiment consisted of nine mathematical puzzles, one of which is shown in Figure i with one of its four pos sible solutions. The problem is to change a D D D D Figure 1 Mathematical Puzzle and Solution