Comparing Example-Based Collaborative Reflection to Problem Solving Practice for Learning during Team-Based Software Engineering Projects

TL;DR

This study compares the effectiveness of example-based reflection versus problem-solving practice in a team-based software engineering course, finding that longer reflection enhances learning and transfer for domain experts.

Contribution

It demonstrates that extended worked example-based reflection leads to greater learning gains and transfer performance than problem-solving in a team software engineering context.

Findings

Longer worked example-based reflection improves learning outcomes.

Participants show significant pre- to post-test gains.

Reflection enhances transfer task performance.

Abstract

Contributing to the literature on aptitude-treatment interactions between worked examples and problem-solving, this paper addresses differential learning from the two approaches when students are positioned as domain experts learning new concepts. Our evaluation is situated in a team project that is part of an advanced software engineering course. In this course, students who possess foundational domain knowledge but are learning new concepts engage alternatively in programming followed by worked example-based reflection. They are either allowed to finish programming or are curtailed after a pre-specified time to participate in a longer worked example-based reflection. We find significant pre- to post-test learning gains in both conditions. Then, we not only find significantly more learning when students participated in longer worked example-based reflections but also a significant performance improvement on a problem-solving transfer task. These findings suggest that domain experts learning new concepts benefit more from worked example-based reflections than from problem-solving.