4C-ID
In this article two instructional approaches were investigated on learners’ ability to learn in a complex environment to see which was more effective and efficient. In this study, they used two approaches on learners’ knowledge acquisition and learning transfer to solve electrical circuit problems. The two approaches are the four component instructional design (4C-ID) versus a conventional method.
There are four components of the 4C-ID and the first one is the learning tasks where students are given worked examples then problems to solve. The second component is supportive information. The purpose of this for learners to connect the information they already know on the topic with information that will be helpful to accomplishing the learning task. The third component, procedural information uses your skills learned from the learning task presenting them in step by step form. The fourth component, Part-task practice in which you will practice the different steps but you can only do this after you have performed the whole task.
129 9th graders were broken up into two groups in which the experimental group consists of 78 students and the control group consists of 51 students. Both the experiment and control group were then broken up into three learning classes and each class consisted of two 90 minute lessons. Each learning class was given different task on electrical circuits to learn. These tasks were designed to use the 4C-ID approach but only the experimental group used this approach, and the control group used a conventional method. Which group was more effective?
In order to prove which approach was more effective and efficient
achievement test were given. One test was a knowledge acquisition test and one was a transfer test. Each test was 25 minutes graded out of 14 points. For the Knowledge acquisition test the scores for the experimental group were between 87% and 81%, and the control group scores were between 87% and 77%. They were close but the experimental group did better by a small margin. For the transfer test the experiment group scores were between 80% and 82%, and the control group was between 63% and 64%. The experiment group had much higher scores compared to the control group.
The data shows that the experiment group did better on both the knowledge acquisition and transfer test. Out of the two approaches that were being investigated the 4C-ID approach has been proven to be the more effective and efficient method while working in a complex environment, like electrical circuits. This experiment was a success because by testing these two approaches they were able to prove their hypothesis that learners in the 4C-ID approach will perform better on both the knowledge-acquisition test and the transfer test than learners in the conventional approach.
Melo, M., & Miranda, G. L. (2015). Learning electrical circuits: The effects of the 4C-ID instructional ap- proach in the acquisition and transfer of knowledge.Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, 14, 313- 337. Retrieved from http://www.jite.org/documents/Vol14/JITEv14ResearchP313-337Melo1752.pdf
