Experiment examines instructional strategies for tax rule learning in students with prior accounting knowledge, suggesting key implications for teaching methods.
The relative effectiveness of three instructional strategies was examined in a situation In which individuals possessed related preexisting accounting knowledge. An experiment was conducted in which 171 introductory tax students received Instruction in a tax rule regarding income recognition, and then solved problems that measured their ability to apply this rule in various contexts. Two aspects of the Instructional material varied: (1) the type of instructional strategy (case, concept, or examples), and (2) the type of fact situation (cash or accrual basis taxpayer). Subjects instructed with cases outperformed subjects instructed with examples who, in turn, outperformed subjects instructed with concepts. The type of examples used during instruction also affected the relative ability of subjects to solve problems belonging to different classes of fact situations. These results indicate the need to consider the relationship of a rule to preexisting accounting knowledge when selecting an instructional strategy.
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Anderson et al. (1990) studied this question.
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