Title

Improving conditional syllogism performance of young normal and gifted students with discovery and rule instruction

Abstract

34 7-11 yr old gifted students (WISC or Stanford-Binet IQs of at least 130 or 132, respectively) and 24 normal 6th-grade students (mean age 12 yrs) received 2 sessions of instruction of 16 variants of conditional syllogisms using objects, a logic board consisting of 2 intersecting sets (circles), an attribute label above each set, and premise rule cards, all designed to operationally define the meaning of antecedent and consequent term attributes (whether positively or negatively stated), and the resulting areas of inclusion, exclusion, and intersection. Ss receiving rule instruction had the rule card displayed during each syllogism; Ss receiving discovery instruction initially had to generate the rule on the basis of correctly placing objects. Both forms of instruction increased variability of performance and average performance on written syllogistic reasoning tests given approximately 1 day or 1 wk following instruction. Discovery instruction was generally more effective than rule instruction, with both forms substantially increasing solutions to the 2 invalid syllogisms, which were, as typically found, most difficult for noninstructed control Ss.

Department(s)

Psychology

Document Type

Article

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.75.3.441

Keywords

rule vs discovery instruction, syllogistic reasoning, gifted 7-11 yr olds & normal 6th graders

Publication Date

6-1-1983

Journal Title

Journal of Educational Psychology

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