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Getting remedial mathematics students to prefer homework with 20% and 40% more problems: An investigation of the strength of the interspersing procedure
Author(s) -
Cates Gary L.,
Skinner Christopher H.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
psychology in the schools
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1520-6807
pISSN - 0033-3085
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6807(200007)37:4<349::aid-pits5>3.0.co;2-7
Subject(s) - remedial education , mathematics education , psychology , multiplication (music) , control (management) , arithmetic , mathematics , computer science , artificial intelligence , combinatorics
High school students in remedial mathematics classes were exposed to three pairs of mathematics computation assignments. Three of the assignments served as control assignments and contained 15 target problems (i.e., three‐digit by two‐digit multiplication problems). Students were also exposed to three paired experimental assignments that contained either 15 (0% more), 18 (20% more), or 21 (40% more) equivalent target problems. Each experimental assignment was also lengthened by interspersing additional one‐digit by one‐digit problems following every third target problem. After exposure to each pair of assignments, students reported which of the two assignments (control or experimental) would require the most time and effort to finish, which was most difficult, and which assignment they would prefer to do for homework. Across all three assignment pairs, significantly more students rated the experimental assignment more favorably for time, effort, and difficulty and chose the experimental assignment for homework. These results extend previous research on interspersing additional brief tasks by showing that this procedure has sufficient strength to get students to prefer homework assignments with 20% and 40% more target problems. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.