McDaniel, M. A. & Donnelly, C. M. (1996). Learning with analogy and elaborative interrogation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 88(3), 508-519.
Previous work has found that embedding analogy in a text improves accurate inferencing,
but at the expense of factual learning of newly learned scientific concepts.
This study explored the possibility of eliminating the decrease in factual learning
by combining analogy with key-word highlighting, pictorial schematics, or elaborative
interrogation. Schematics had no effect on either factual or inference learning.
Combining key-word highlighting with analogy increased factual learning to levels
comparable with those found in the literal-text-conditions. Elaborative interrogation
produced robust gains in both factual and inference learning, regardless of
whether the technique was combined with analogy. These results represent an
extension of the situations in which elaborative interrogation produces potent
learning benefits and emphasizes its potential over alternative instructional
methods.