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Problem Complexity and the Transfer of Strategies in Computer-presented Problems

Two experiments were performed to determine whether practice on less complex problems, either smaller size or in familiar context, produces a strategy that transfers to similar but more complex problems. In the first experiment subjects solved a set of small or intermediate size problems in familiar or unfamiliar context. They subsequently did large size problems in their initially assigned context. Intermediate size problems resulted in significantly better performance on subsequent large size problems than practice on small size problems. In the second experiment subjects did a set of problems in one of three sizes and one of two contexts, with a subsequent set in the same size but in an unfamiliar context. Practice on familiar problems was no more effective than practice on unfamiliar for transfer to another unfamiliar context for all sizes. Students performed near ceiling on smaller size problems and poorly on larger problems. Implications for instruction are discussed.