Effects of Question Prompts and Self-explanation on Database Problem Solving in a Peer Tutoring Context

In the prior research, using the computing system (HCCS) indeed identified the gaps between doing and knowing when students learned concepts and performed problem solving tasks of database management. To bridge the emerged gaps by interacting with well-designed question prompts and self-explanations treatments, the purpose of this study is to examine the effects of question prompts, self-explanation, and the interaction of question prompts and self-explanation on undergraduate students' database conceptual knowledge and problem solving performance in a peer tutoring context. One hundred and fifty-one undergraduates from three classes in a private university participated in the 8-week experimental instruction. The results reveals that (a) the interaction of question prompts and self-explanation was not significant, and (b) for the problem solving performances, the integral question prompt group outperformed the gradual question prompt group and the scenario-based self-explanation group outperformed the elaboration-based self-explanation group.