Zusammenfassung
Selbst wenn die Motivation zum Lernen gegeben ist, scheitern viele Studierende häufig daran, eigene Lernaktivitäten zu initiieren und diese gegen andere Handlungen abzuschirmen. Gollwitzer hat für die Überwindung solch volitionaler Probleme das Konzept der Wenn-Dann-Pläne (Implementations-Intentionen) vorgestellt, bei dem Personen günstige Situationen identifizieren („Wenn...“) und für diese zielführende Verhaltensabsichten formulieren („Dann...“). Effekte von Wenn-Dann-Plänen im Lernkontext sind bislang kaum untersucht, insbesondere fehlen Belege für leistungsförderliche Effekte. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht die Wirkung von Wenn-Dann-Plänen im Kontext einer Lernsoftware. 77 Studierende, die sich auf eine Statistikklausur vorbereiteten, nahmen daran teil. Zufällig erhielten sie zu Beginn der Lernphase in einer Kontrollgruppe (KG) eine reine Motivationsstärkung (Mentales Kontrastieren) oder zusätzlich eine Anleitung zum Bilden von Wenn-Dann-Plänen zur Verbesserung eigenen Lernens. Wie vermutet erzielten Studierende nach dem Bilden von Wenn-Dann-Plänen höhere Klausurleistungen als Studierende in der KG, es gab jedoch keine Unterschiede in Lernbeginn und Häufigkeit. Wir diskutieren als denkbare Erklärung für das unerwartete Befundmuster, demzufolge die Intervention auf die finale Leistung, nicht jedoch auf Lernprozessvariablen wirkt, eine mögliche Generalisierung der Intervention auf andere Lernaktivitäten, sowie die mögliche inzidentelle Bildung von Handlungsplänen durch das mentale Kontrastieren.
Abstract
Though motivation might be given, students often fail to initialize learning activities and to shield these from other actions. To overcome these volitional issues Gollwitzer proposed the concept of if-then-plans (implementation-intentions), which asks persons to identify favorable situations (if) and formulate goal-striving behaviors (then) for those. Effects of if-then-plans in the educational context are not well studied, especially evidence of positive effects on performance is not yielded yet. The present study investigates the effects of if-then-plans in the context of exam preparation with an e-learning software. 77 students preparing for a statistic exam participated in this study. At the beginning of the learning phase participants were randomly assigned to either a control group with a goal-binding-intervention only (in form of mental contrasting) or an experimental group with an additional instruction to form if-then-plans. As predicted, students with if-then-plans showed significantly higher exam performance, though no differences in learning-time or onset were observed. As explanation for these to some extent surprising results (finding effects on performance but not on learning-process-variables) we discuss a possible generalization of the intervention on other learning activities beside the software as well as a possible incidental formation of action plans by the mental contrasting.
Notes
Wir bedanken uns bei einem anonymen Gutachter/einer anonymen Gutachterin für die Anregung, zusätzlich zu testen, ob sich die Gruppen in der Dauer zwischen Intervention und erstmalig folgenden Lerndurchgang unterschieden. Dies war nicht der Fall, t(74) = −0,346, p = 0,731.
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Danksagung
Wir bedanken uns bei Jan Siebert für seine Unterstützung bei der Durchführung dieser Arbeit.
Förderung
Das Anfertigen dieses Manuskriptes wurde gefördert durch ein Qualifizierungsstipendium des Center for Doctoral Studies in Social and Behavioral Sciences (CDSS) der Universität Mannheim an den Erstautor.
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Janson, M.P., Dickhäuser, O. Prüfungsvorbereitung an der Hochschule mittels Lernsoftware: Die Effekte von Wenn-Dann-Plänen. Unterrichtswiss 47, 295–312 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42010-018-0018-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42010-018-0018-8