Effects of Instructor’s “Task Knowledge” and “Learning-Process Knowledge” on Educational Desirability Judgment

Abstract

  This study defined Task Knowledge and Learning-Process Knowledge based on current concepts regarding instructors' knowledge. It examined whether instructors' acquisition of each knowledge type changes their desirability judgments on educational methods involving students' activities or teachers' guidance. In a pretest-posttest design experiment, university students were presented with a complex mathematical problem and ten questionnaire items; half of these pertained to classroom situations involving students' activities and half teachers' guidance. Participants in the Task Knowledge condition (N=147) were provided with the solution steps and correct answer for the problem. Those in the Learning-Process Knowledge condition (N=136) were provided with examples of fifth-grade students' incorrect answers and the appearance rates of each answer pattern. Both groups assessed the problem difficulty level for fifth-grade public elementary school students with average academic ability and rated the educational desirability for the ten questionnaire items. Results indicated that participants in both conditions evaluated the problem difficulty level to be higher in the posttest than in the pretest. However, in the two conditions, their desirability judgments changed differently. The Task Knowledge condition participants scored the teachers' guidance items higher in the posttest than the pretest, whereas the Learning-Process Knowledge condition participants scored the students' activities items higher.