Examining preservice teachers’ decision behaviors and individual differences in three online case-based approaches

This study compared the impact of three types of case-based methods (case-based reasoning, worked example, and faded worked example) on preservice teachers’ (n = 71) interaction with decision tasks and whether decision related measures (task difficulty, mental effort, decision making performance) were associated with the differences in student characteristics (decision making styles, self-efficacy, confidence). Participants in this study received a short-term implementation of one of these three major approaches to case-based instruction. The results showed that while students’ perceptions of task difficulty and mental effort did not change as a function of treatment, the worked example group, compared to the case-based reasoning and faded worked example groups, performed better on making reason-based decisions related to classroom management. Furthermore, some of the relationships between individual differences and decision related measures were inconsistent with the existing literature.

► We compare three case-based methods’ impact on preservice teachers’ decision behaviors.
► Students’ interaction with tasks did not change as a function of treatment.
► Worked-example method leads to better decision-making performance.
► The higher in motivational constructs the lower in perceived task difficulty.
► The higher in motivational constructs the lower in perceived mental effort.