HYPERTEXT LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS, COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY, AND THE TRANSFER OF COMPLEX KNOWLEDGE - AN EMPIRICAL-INVESTIGATION

Although the use of hypertext systems for learning complex knowledge h as been attracting recent attention, we currently have poor theoretica l and research perspectives from which to understand special character istics associated with learning in nonlinear and multidimensional hype rtext instructional systems. A study was conducted to investigate a th eory-based hypertext learning environment that provided instruction in a complex and ill-structured domain. The experimental treatment incor porated several features derived from recent cognitive learning theory , in particular a hypertext procedure that presented the instructional material in multiple contexts to highlight different facets of the kn owledge. The main results of the study revealed that although the cont rol treatment led to higher performance on the measures of memory for factual knowledge, the more hypertext-like treatment promoted superior knowledge transfer. Overall, these findings suggest hypertext learnin g environments that present the instructed knowledge by explicitly dem onstrating critical interrelationships between abstract and case-speci fic knowledge components in multiple contexts will help prepare studen ts to use knowledge in new ways and in new situations.