Learning with Analogy and Elaborative Interrogation

Previous work has found that embedding analogy in a text improves accurate inferencing, but at the expense of factual learning of newly learned scientific concepts. This study explored the possibility of eliminating the decrease in factual learning by combining analogy with key-word highlighting, pictorial schematics, or elaborative interrogation. Schematics had no effect on either factual or inference learning. Combining key-word highlighting with analogy increased factual learning to levels comparable with those found in the literal-text conditions. Elaborative interrogation produced robust gains in both factual and inference learning, regardless of whether the technique was combined with analogy. These results represent an extension of the situations in which elaborative interrogation produces potent learning benefits and emphasizes its potential over alternative instructional methods.