Effects of Different Order of Presented Instances on Learning of Scientific Concepts

Two experiments were designed to assess the effects of different order of presented instances on learning of scientific concepts. In Experiment I two kinds of reading materials described as common features of metal were constructed. The text given to Dk group explained those features by referring to instances in order of ‘copper→ calcium’. For Kd group the arrangement of ‘calcium→copper’ was used. As a result, Dk group showed better performance than Kd group in the recall-application test for common features. In Experiment II two kinds of reading materials describing a universal property of livestock were constructed. In the text given to Bk group, the property was explained by mentioning instances in order of ‘swine→silkworm’. For Kb group the arrangement of ‘silkworm→swine’ was chosen. As a result, Bk group showed higher score than Kb group in the recall-application test for a universal property. The obtained results from the two experiments were discussed on the basis of “heteroformulation theory” proposed by Fushimi, Y.(1990, 1991).