The Effect of Self-Explanation Prompts and Fading Stepsin Worked-out Examples on Students’ FractionProblems Performance

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that worked-out examples are considered as an alternative approach for students who don’t have prior knowledge of a task or initial acquisition in domains like mathematics. Worked-out examples involve the presentation of a problem and its solution. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the relative effects of four different types of worked-out examples (worked-out examples, worked-out examples with self-explanation prompts, fading worked-out examples without self-explanation prompts and fading worked-out examples with self-explanation prompts) on novice students’ math performance on fraction problems. The study group consisted of 67 students that were selected among 215 sixth grade students from a public school. According to the results of this study, the use of self-explanation prompts in combination with backward fading worked-out examples fosters learning in both transfer and follow-up studies. Backward fading worked-out examples using self-explanation prompts can be easily implemented and is compatible with ordinary framework conditions in schools with very simple means such as worksheets or homework.