Subgoal labeling is giving a name to a group of steps, in a

step-by-step Step by Step may refer to: Film and television * Step by Step (1946 film), ''Step by Step'' (1946 film), an American film directed by Phil Rosen * Step by Step (2002 film), ''Step by Step'' (2002 film), a Belgian film directed by Philippe Blasba ...

description of a

process A process is a series or set of activities that interact to produce a result; it may occur once-only or be recurrent or periodic. Things called a process include: Business and management *Business process, activities that produce a specific se ...

, to explain how the group of steps achieve a related subgoal. This concept is used in the fields of cognitive science and

educational psychology Educational psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of human learning. The study of learning processes, from both cognitive and behavioral perspectives, allows researchers to understand individual differences i ...

. Lower-level steps of a

worked example Work may refer to: * Work (human activity), intentional activity people perform to support themselves, others, or the community ** Manual labour, physical work done by humans ** House work, housework, or homemaking ** Working animal, an animal tr ...

are grouped into a meaningful unit and labeled. This

labeling Labelling or using a label is describing someone or something in a word or short phrase. For example, the label "criminal" may be used to describe someone who has broken a law. Labelling theory is a theory in sociology which ascribes labelling ...

helps learners identify the

structural A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such a ...

information from incidental information.

Learning Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, value (personal and cultural), values, attitudes, and preferences. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals, and some machine learning, machines ...

subgoals can reduce

cognitive load In cognitive psychology, cognitive load refers to the amount of working memory resources used. There are three types of cognitive load: ''intrinsic'' cognitive load is the effort associated with a specific topic; ''extraneous'' cognitive load refe ...

when

problem solving Problem solving is the process of achieving a goal by overcoming obstacles, a frequent part of most activities. Problems in need of solutions range from simple personal tasks (e.g. how to turn on an appliance) to complex issues in business an ...

because the learner has fewer possible problem-solving steps to focus. Subgoal-labeled worked examples might provide learners with

mental model A mental model is an explanation of someone's thought process about how something works in the real world. It is a representation of the surrounding world, the relationships between its various parts and a person's intuitive perception about thei ...

frameworks. In a recent study, Learners who were given labels for subgoals used those labels when explaining how they solved a problem, suggesting that's how they mentally organized the information.

Introduction

Generally problem solving adopts a very procedural approach. Problem solving in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (

STEM Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

) has been highly procedural. The best approach so far is to teach these procedures through instructional text accompanied by specific worked examples. The role of instructional text is to define and describe the problem solving procedures whereas how to apply these procedures is shown through worked examples. Students can learn from step-by-step approach of worked examples which later can be helpful to them in solving similar problems on their own. Novices, however, often find it difficult to distinguish domain specific information and the information specific to solving that problem, which increases their cognitive load. This cognitive load can be reduced by use of subgoal labeling which is achieved by grouping functionally-similar steps under a label that describes that function. This approach can be helpful to students to form a mental model of the domain related problem which later can guide them to solve different problems in that domain. Understanding the structure of worked example can help students identify the similarities between different problems thus encouraging self-explanation and learning.

Application

Subgoal labels have been used in worked examples to teach learners to solve problems in STEM domains Pairing subgoal labeled instructional text with subgoal labeled worked examples can further improve learners performance in problem solving in a computer-based learning environment (e.g.

online learning Educational technology (commonly abbreviated as edutech, or edtech) is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning. When referred to with its abbreviation, edtech, it often refer ...

) without personal interaction with an instructor. Subgoal labels can be used in different important areas such as teaching and learning novel problem solving, in training teachers to teach technical subjects (e.g. teaching computer programming), multi agent programming, professional development, online learning and other types of lifelong learning (e.g. Subgoal labeled instruction material helped novices to program in

App Inventor for Android MIT App Inventor is a web application integrated development environment originally provided by Google, and now maintained by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It allows newcomers to computer programming to create application softw ...

References

{{reflist, 30em, refs= {{cite journal , url=http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2361291&dl=ACM&coll=DL&CFID=625882973&CFTOKEN=47576430 , title=Subgoal-labeled instructional material improves performance and transfer in learning to develop mobile applications , author=Margulieux, L. E., Guzdial, M., & Catrambone, R. , journal=ICER '12, Proceedings of the Ninth Annual International Conference on International Computing Education Research , date=September 2012 , pages=71–78 , doi=10.1145/2361276.2361291, isbn=9781450316040 , s2cid=17716228 Margulieux, L. E. (2014). Subgoal Labeled Instructional Text and Worked Examples in STEM Education Margulieux, L. E., Catrambone, R., & Guzdial, M. Subgoal Labeled Worked Examples Improve K-12 Teacher Performance in Computer Programming Training (2013) Catrambone, R. (1995). Aiding subgoal learning: Effects on transfer. ''

Journal of Educational Psychology The ''Journal of Educational Psychology'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that was established in 1910 and covers educational psychology. It is published by the American Psychological Association. The current editor-in-chief is Steve Graham (A ...

'', 87(1), 5. Catrambone, R. (1998). The subgoal learning model: Creating better examples so that students can solve novel problems. '' Journal of Experimental Psychology: General'', 127(4), 355. Chiu, C. C., & Soo, V. W. (2007). Subgoal Identification for Reinforcement Learning and Planning in Multiagent Problem Solving (pp. 37-48). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Educational research Human–computer interaction Cognitive science Educational psychology

Introduction

Application

See also

References