Active responding in programed learning materials

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of requiring a constructed response in programed material versus reading the same material. The programed materials consisted of 4 sections of an IBM basic machine operation course. 23 intact classes at the IBM New York Education Center served as Ss. The principal findings were as follows: no significant differences in mean achievement between the 2 formats of programed instruction, some tendency for the brighter students to do better with the constructed response programs and the duller students to do better with reading only, large time savings when the constructed response was not required, and significant reduction in range of finishing times when the constructed response was not required. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)