Free‐choice experiences: How do they help children learn?

Hunt's theory of intrinsic motivation and the open education movement suggests that student choice is an important variable in instruction. Piagetian theory emphasizes the importance of interactive experiences and exposure to materials as opposed to direct instruction. In this study, interactive free choice learning experiences are compared to and combined with the lecture‐demonstration approach. The goal of both forms of instruction was to teach children to criticize and control experiments. The lecture‐demonstration approach without opportunities for free choice was superior to free choice alone or free choice combined with the lecture‐demonstration approach in teaching students to criticize experiments. Lecture‐demonstration followed by free choice was superior to free choice followed by lecture‐demonstration, and to free choice combined with lecture‐demonstration in teaching students to design controlled experiments. Results suggest that the ability to criticize experiments is a necessary condition for acquiring the ability to design controlled experiments. Contrary to some of Piaget's statements and to recent research (Kuhn & Angelev, 1976), this study suggests that instruction combined with exposure to materials is more effective than exposure alone in fostering an ability to criticize and control experiments. Results suggest that free choice is an effective instructional tool only after students have some familiarity with the goals of instruction. That is, students who are able to criticize experiments can learn to design controlled experiments from a free‐choice program.