Effects of Modelling and Instruction on Problem-Solving by School Children with Different Expectations of Success

Abstract

The effects of peer modelling and adult instruction, singly and in combination, on the adoption of an advocated strategy for problem-solving and on subsequent speed and accuracy, were examined in school children who had reported high or low expectations of success on the problem-solving task (WISC Block Design). Peer modelling combined with adult instruction proved to be the most influential treatment for strategy adoption and more influential than peer modelling alone and adult instruction alone in that order. Expectation of success was not found to be a mediating variable for strategy adoption but was for problem-solving performance. In terms of speed and accuracy, the most influential treatments were peer modelling alone or in combination with adult instruction for children with high expectations but adult instruction alone for children with low expectations.