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Throw them in the deep end? Quizzing with factual versus application items
Abstract
Students regularly ask, “How can I do well in your course?” They are surprised when I provide a simple answer: Take advantage of the quizzes. Quizzes are not a silver bullet, but they improve students’ recollection of course information and, importantly to students, increase performance on exams. Pre-lecture reading quizzes encourage students to arrive prepared (pre-training), ongoing quizzes promote
regular studying (spacing), and review quizzes help students revisit material from previous topics (interleaving). Central to the present discussion, all of these types of quizzes require students to retrieve information to answer items, which improves performance on later exams (testing effect, retrieval practice). Still, questions remain about how to use quizzes most effectively. In particular, should we use
harder application quizzes or easier factual quizzes to help students do well in the course? That is to say, should we throw students in the deep end early in the learning process or not?
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When dealing with instructional information, working memory can be divided into auditory and visual processors. The capacity limits of each processor are a major impediment when students are required to learn new material. Nevertheless, there is one strategy that can effectively expand working memory capacity by using the partially independent status of the auditory and visual processors. Under specific and well-defined conditions, presenting some information in visual mode and other information in auditory mode can increase effective working memory capacity and so reduce the effects of cognitive overload. This effect is called the instructional modality effect or modality principle. It is an instructional principle that can substantially increase learning. This chapter discusses the theory and data that underpin the principle and the instructional implications that flow from the principle.
Applying professional-vision skills to classroom situations depends on knowledge about what matters in these situations. In an experiment with 85 biology pre-service teachers, we investigated a 90-min intervention combining both acquisition and application of knowledge about tutoring. The intervention started with an introductory text, followed by classroom video examples. Students who read a text on concrete tutoring strategies made more references to pedagogical concepts in their analyses than students who read about generic video observational guidelines. We conclude that combining a short, focused theoretical introduction and video analysis is a promising method to broadly anchor professional-vision training within teacher education.
When analyzing classroom video, pre-service teachers can improve their professional vision, that is, their ability to notice important events in a classroom and to interpret them based on theoretical knowledge. However, learning with video is especially challenging for novice learners. Thus, video needs to be embedded into an instructional context to be effective. In an experimental study with 89 pre-service biology teachers, we investigated the effect of a short professional vision training and whether two design principles from multimedia learning research—namely segmenting and self-explanation prompts—could additionally increase training effects. In a one-hour training session on small-group tutoring strategies, participants watched practice video examples either as a whole or segmented. After each video or video segment, respectively, they received either open or focused self-explanation prompts to analyze the scene. We assessed participants’ professional vision skills before and after training. Overall, participants’ performance substantially increased from pretest to posttest. Moreover, during training, both segmented video examples and focused self-explanation prompts led to increased noticing of relevant strategies. This advantage during training, however, did not result in higher professional vision improvement in posttest scores compared to participants who worked in the less supported training phase conditions. We discuss possible explanations why additional support increased training performance but not learning gains and suggest an additional fading phase as a means to achieve persistent effects.
The present work was conducted to re‐examine the findings of Agarwal et al. (2008), which showed that both closed‐book tests (with feedback) and open‐book tests increased learning outcomes after 1 week compared to simple re‐study of the same materials. However, contrary to often found benefits of retrieval practice—which should be more pronounced in closed‐book tests—both test conditions proved to be similarly effective. As retrieval practice benefits increase with retention interval, this pattern may change with a longer delay. Hence, we conducted a laboratory study and applied three within‐participant learning conditions (re‐study, open‐book test, closed‐book test with feedback) with a 2 weeks instead of 1 week delay between studying and the final test. Notably, our results mirrored the findings of Agarwal et al. (2008) showing that open‐book and closed‐book tests outperform re‐study but are similarly effective—even using a slightly changed procedure, new materials, a different sample, and a longer delay. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Video-based training offers teacher students approximations of practice for developing professional vision (PV; i.e., noticing and reasoning) of core teaching practices. While much video analysis research focuses on whole-classroom scenarios, for early PV training, it is unclear whether the focused instructional context of tutoring could be an appropriate and potentially supportive design element. The present study describes 42 biology teacher students’ performance on a tutoring video analysis task. With qualitative content analysis, we investigated how teacher students describe and interpret noticed tutoring events, with particular reference to research-informed PV indicators. With epistemic network analyses, we explored co-occurrences of PV indicators across teacher students’ six video analysis responses, contrasting low and high quality description and interpretation network models, respectively. We found that teacher students’ skills paralleled previous PV literature findings on novices (e.g., vague, general pedagogy descriptions). Yet, unexpectedly, some teacher students demonstrated aspects of higher sophistication (e.g., describing individual students, making multiple knowledge-based interpretations). Findings suggest tutoring is a powerful context for showing tutor-student interactions, making it suitable for initial teacher students’ PV training. Moreover, results offer hints about the range of teacher students’ PV mental models and highlight the need for more support in content-specific noticing and reasoning. Nevertheless, tutoring representations within PV video analysis training may offer teacher students support in student-centered attention and knowledge-oriented focus.
We investigated whether continuously alternating between topics during practice, or interleaved practice, improves memory and the ability to solve problems in undergraduate physics. Over eight weeks, students in two lecture sections of a university-level introductory physics course completed thrice-weekly homework assignments, each containing problems that were interleaved (i.e., alternating topics) or conventionally arranged (i.e., one topic practiced at a time). On two surprise criterial tests containing novel and more-challenging problems, students recalled more relevant information and more frequently produced correct solutions after having engaged in interleaved practice (with observed median improvements of 50% on test 1 and 125% on test 2). Despite benefiting more from interleaved practice, students tended to rate the technique as more difficult and incorrectly believed that they learned less from it. Thus, in a domain that entails considerable amounts of problem-solving, replacing conventionally-arranged with interleaved homework can (despite perceptions to the contrary) foster longer-lasting and more generalizable learning.
When learning a new concept, should students engage in problem solving followed by instruction (PS-I) or instruction followed by problem solving (I-PS)? Noting that there is a passionate debate about the design of initial learning, we report evidence from a meta-analysis of 53 studies with 166 comparisons that compared PS-I with I-PS design. Our results showed a significant, moderate effect in favor of PS-I (Hedge's g 0.36 [95% confidence interval 0.20; 0.51]). The effects were even stronger (Hedge's g ranging between 0.37 and 0.58) when PS-I was implemented with high fidelity to the principles of Productive Failure (PF), a subset variant of PS-I design. Students' grade level, intervention time span, and its (quasi-)experimental nature contributed to the efficacy of PS-I over I-PS designs. Contrasting trends were, however, observed for younger age learners (second to fifth graders) and for the learning of domain-general skills, for which effect sizes favored I-PS. Overall, an estimation of true effect sizes after accounting for publication bias suggested a strong effect size favoring PS-I (Hedge's g 0.87).
The study focused on supporting the distinct processes of assessment and providing feedback within a peer feedback setting in teacher education and investigates the effects on student teachers’ self-efficacy and feedback quality in a quasi-experiment. Student teachers ( n = 129) were asked to repeatedly provide peer feedback on learning strategies and were supported by a digital tool. The support was varied: support in assessment (A; realized by rubrics), in formulating the feedback (F; by providing sentence starters), in both components (A+F), or no support (Control). We conducted a 2 × 2 analysis of variance (ANOVA) to measure the effect on feedback quality and 2 × 2×2 mixed ANOVAs to investigate the effects on self-efficacy. Results revealed that student teachers perceived higher self-efficacy regarding assessing learning strategies and giving feedback after repeatedly giving and receiving peer feedback. While supporting feedback-writing (F) was immediately beneficial for students’ self-efficacy, the combination (A + F) was most advantageous in the long run. In addition, feedback quality was higher when students were supported in writing the feedback. The findings show that competencies to assess and to give feedback seem to be distinct components that should be fostered individually. The developed support by the digital tool seems to be one beneficial approach here.
The present meta-analysis tested the effects of extended self-regulated learning training programs on academic performance, self-regulated learning strategies, and motivation of university students. The literature search revealed 49 studies (5,786 participants) that met the inclusion criteria. A three-level meta-analysis based on 251 effect sizes revealed an overall effect size of g = .38. The largest effect sizes were obtained for metacognitive strategies (g = .40) and resource management strategies (g = .39) followed by academic performance (g = .37), motivational outcomes (g = .35), and cognitive strategies (g = .32). Training effects varied for specific self-regulated learning strategies and ranged between .23 (rehearsal) and .61 (attention and concentration). Moderator analyses revealed differential training effects depending on course design characteristics: Feedback predicted larger training effects for metacognitive and resource management strategies as well as motivation. Cooperative learning arrangements predicted larger training effects for cognitive and metacognitive strategies. The provision of learning protocols predicted larger training effects for resource management strategies. Moreover, training programs based on a metacognitive theoretical background reported higher effects sizes for academic achievement compared to training programs based on cognitive theories. Further, training programs that targeted older students and students with lower prior academic achievement showed larger effect sizes for resource management strategies. To conclude, self-regulated learning training programs enhanced academic performance, self-regulated learning strategies, and motivation of university students.
Writing explanations has demonstrated to be less effective than providing oral explanations, as writing triggers less amounts of perceived social presence during explaining. In this study, we investigated whether increasing social presence during writing explanations would aid learning. University students (N = 137) read an instructional text about immunology; their subsequent task depended on experimental condition. Students either explained the contents to a fictitious peer orally, wrote their explanations in a text editor, or wrote them in a messenger chat, which was assumed to induce higher levels of social presence. A control group retrieved the material. Surprisingly, we did not obtain any differences in learning outcomes between experimental conditions. Interestingly, explaining was more effortful, enjoyable, and interesting than retrieving. This study shows that solely inducing social presence does not improve learning from writing explanations. More importantly, the findings underscore the importance of cognitive and motivational conditions during learning activities.
Teaching other students in a face-to-face manner has been shown to effectively foster both one’s own and their learning. This study experimentally investigated whether and how tutors and tutees academically benefit from three phases of face-to-face teaching: preparing-to-teach, initial-explanation, and interaction phases. Japanese undergraduates (n = 80) acted as tutors or tutees in peer tutoring. After studying with the expectation of teaching face-to-face or taking a test (the preparing-to-teach phase), tutor participants provided tutee participants with initial instructional explanations, without asking or answering questions (the initial-explanation phase), and then engaged in a question-and-answer period (the interaction phase). Tutor and tutee participants learned better by providing and receiving higher-quality explanations in the initial-explanation and interaction phases. Face-to-face teaching vs. test expectancy had no effects on the quality of tutor participants’ explanations or their learning outcomes. The results suggest that both the initial-explanation and interaction phases contribute to learning by teaching face-to-face, whereas the preparing-to-teach phase does not.
This paper explores plausible reasons why some students report having more difficulty learning online, predominantly in Zoom synchronous classes, and suggests strategies that students can do to optimize their learning. During anonymous classroom observations, approximately 80% of 350 college students polled indicated it was harder to focus their attention and stay present while taking classes online. They also reported experiencing more isolation, anxiety, and depression compared to face-to-face classes, although much of this may be due to COVID-19 social isolation. Students often appear nonresponsive when attending online synchronous Zoom classes that negatively impacts the nonverbal dynamics of student-instructor interactions. Communication issues includes internet challenges, lack of facial expressions, body appearance, and movement. Students also report that it is more challenging to maintain attention, especially when they are multitasking. Suggested strategies are to optimize learning that includes arranging the camera so that you are visible, using active facial and body responses as if you are communicating to just one person face-to-face, configuring your body and environment (sitting upright and creating unique cues for each specific task), reducing multitasking and notifications, and optimizing arousal and vision regeneration.
A systematic review was conducted into the effect of interleaving the order of examples of concepts in terms of both memory of items and transfer to new items. This concept has important implications for how and when teachers present examples in the classroom. A total of 26 studies met the inclusion criteria; a subset of 17 studies (with 32 constituent datasets) formed the basis of a meta‐analysis, and the remainder were analysed within a narrative review. Memory (as tested by presenting studied items from a learned category) showed an interleaving benefit with effect sizes (Hedges’ g) of up to 0.65, and transfer (as tested by presenting novel items from a learned category) a benefit with effect sizes of up to 0.66. Interleaving was found to be of greatest use when differences between items are subtle, and the benefit extended to both art‐ and science‐based items, with implication for practitioner decisions over how and when to apply the technique. It also extended to delayed tests. The review revealed that the literature is dominated by laboratory studies of university undergraduates, and the need for future school‐based research using authentic classroom tasks is outlined.
The testing effect—the power of retrieval practice to enhance long-term knowledge retention more than restudying does—is a well-known phenomenon in learning. However, retrieval practice is hardly appreciated by students and underutilized when studying. One of the reasons is that learners usually do not experience immediate benefits of such practice which often present only after a delay. We therefore conducted 2 experiments to examine whether students choose retrieval practice more often as their learning strategy after having experienced its benefits. In Experiment 1, students received individual feedback about the extent to which their 7-day delayed test scores after retrieval practice differed from their test scores after restudy. Those students who had actually experienced the benefits of retrieval practice appreciated the strategy more and used it more often after receiving feedback. In Experiment 2, we compared the short-term and long-term effects on retrieval practice use of individual performance feedback and general instruction about the testing effect. Although both interventions enhanced its use in the short term, only the individual feedback led to enhanced use in the long term by those who had actually experienced its benefits, demonstrating the superiority of the individual feedback in terms of its ability to promote retrieval practice use.
Given the growing interest in retrieval practice among educators, it is valuable to know when retrieval practice does and does not improve student learning—particularly for educators who have limited classroom time and resources. In this literature review, we developed a narrow operational definition for “classroom research” compared to previous reviews of the literature. We screened nearly 2000 abstracts and systematically coded 50 experiments to establish a clearer picture of benefits from retrieval practice in real world educational settings. Our review yielded 49 effect sizes and a total n = 5374, the majority of which (57%) revealed medium or large benefits from retrieval practice. We found that retrieval practice improved learning for a variety of education levels, content areas, experimental designs, final test delays, retrieval and final test formats, and timing of retrieval practice and feedback; however, only 6% of experiments were conducted in non-WEIRD countries. Based on our review of the literature, we make eight recommendations for future research and provide educators with a better understanding of the robust benefits of retrieval practice across a range of school and classroom settings.
Practice testing and distributed practice are effective in enhancing learning outcomes and long-term retention. Yet, many students use ineffective learning strategies instead and are reluctant to change them because they hold erroneous beliefs about practice testing and distributed practice. This intervention study examined whether narratives, compared to traditional didactic communication, can change learning strategy-beliefs, stimulate intentions to change ineffective strategy use, and raise awareness of desirable difficulties (i.e., difficulties produced by strategies that slow down the acquisition process but enhance long-term retention and transfer). Narratives and didactic communication did not differ in their change of erroneous beliefs and stimulate intentions to change, but narratives led to a higher awareness of the importance of desirable difficulties for learning.
This edited book represents a sliver, albeit a substantial one, of the scholarship on the science of learning and its application in educational settings. Most of the work described in this book is based on theory and research in cognitive psychology. Although much, but not all, of what is presented is focused on learning in college and university settings, teachers of all academic levels may find the recommendations made by chapter authors of service. Authors wrote their chapters with nonexperts as the target audience – teachers who may have little or no background in science of learning, research-based approaches to teaching and learning, or even general principles of psychological science. The book is organized in three sections. The 14 chapters in Part 1 address important concepts, principles, theories, and research findings, and applications related to the science of learning. The four chapters in Part 2 focus on preparing faculty to apply science of learning principles in their courses. Finally, the six chapters in Part 3 provide examples of research that have been done in real academic settings and that have applied one or more science of learning principles.
Much of modern education reform is focused on implementation of evidenced-based teaching, but these techniques are sometimes met with trepidation from faculty, due to inexperience or lack of necessary resources. One near-peer teaching model designed to facilitate evidenced-based teaching in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics classrooms is the Learning Assistant (LA) model. Here, we describe the details of the LA model, present a scoping review of literature using the four original goals of the LA model as a framework, and suggest future areas of research that would deepen our understanding of the impact that the LA model may have on education. We summarize how the LA model improves student outcomes and teacher preparation and identify a relative deficiency of literature that addresses how the LA model impacts faculty and departmental/institutional change. Additionally, of the 39 papers reviewed, 11 are strictly pre-experimental study designs, 28 use quasi-experimental designs or a combination of quasi and pre-experimental, and none of them included a true experimental design. Thus, we conclude that current studies suggest that LA model positively impacts education, but more refined assessment would improve our understanding of the model. Furthermore, despite the encouraging research on the impact of the LA model and the proliferation of LA programs at institutions across the world, the study of the LA model has been, for the most part, limited to a small group of education researchers. Therefore, a major objective of this review is to introduce the LA model to a new group of instructors and researchers who can further our understanding of this promising model.
Increasing attention has been given to understanding resilience to brain diseases, often described as brain or cognitive reserve. Among the protective factors for the development of resilience, physical activity/exercise has been considered to play an important role. Exercise is known to induce many positive effects on the brain. As such, exercise represents an important tool to influence neurodevelopment and shape the adult brain to react to life's challenges. Among many beneficial effects, exercise intervention has been associated with cognitive improvement and stress resilience in humans and animal models. Thus, a growing number of studies have demonstrated that exercise not only recovers or minimizes cognitive deficits by inducing better neuroplasticity and cognitive reserve but also counteracts brain pathology. This is evidenced before disease onset or after it has been established. In this review, we aimed to present encouraging data from current clinical and pre-clinical neuroscience research and discuss the possible biological mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of physical exercise on resilience. We consider the implication of physical exercise for resilience from brain development to aging and for some neurological diseases. Overall, the literature indicates that brain/cognitive reserve built up by regular exercise in several stages of life, prepares the brain to be more resilient to cognitive impairment and consequently to brain pathology.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced a shift to online teaching and learning (OTL) in colleges and universities across the globe, requiring teachers to adapt their teaching in a very short time—independent of whether they were prepared. Drawing from an international sample of N = 739 higher education teachers in 58 countries, the present study sheds light on teachers’ readiness for OTL at the time of the pandemic by (a) identifying teacher profiles based on a set of key dimensions of readiness; (b) explaining profile membership by individual teacher characteristics, contextual aspects of the shift to OTL, and country-level indicators representing educational innovation and cultural orientation. We conducted latent profile analysis and identified three teacher profiles with consistently high or low readiness or an inconsistent readiness profile—hence, teachers in higher education are not a homogeneous group. Importantly, key individual and contextual variables, such as teachers’ gender and prior OTL experience, the context of the OTL shift, the innovation potential in education, and cultural orientation, explained profile membership. We discuss these findings with respect to the nature of the profiles, how they can be understood with respect to key determinants, and their implications for OTL in higher education.
The use of practice tests to enhance learning, or test-enhanced learning, ranks among the most effective of all pedagogical techniques. We investigated the relative efficacy of pretesting (i.e., errorful generation) and posttesting (i.e., retrieval practice), two of the most prominent practice test types in the literature to date. Pretesting involves taking tests before to-be-learned information is studied, whereas posttesting involves taking tests after information is studied. In five experiments (combined n = 1,573), participants studied expository text passages, each paired with a pretest or a posttest. The tests involved multiple-choice (Experiments 1-5) or cued recall format (Experiments 2-4) and were administered with or without correct answer feedback (Experiments 3-4). On a criterial test administered 5 minutes or 48 hours later, both test types enhanced memory relative to a no-test control, but pretesting yielded higher overall scores. That advantage held across test formats, in the presence or absence of feedback, at different retention intervals, and appeared to stem from enhanced processing of text passage content (Experiment 5). Thus, although the benefits of posttesting are more well-established in the literature, pretesting is highly competitive with posttesting and can yield similar, if not greater, pedagogical benefits. These findings have important implications for the incorporation of practice tests in education and training contexts.
Applying effective learning strategies during self-study is important to build long-term knowledge. However, students rarely use such strategies, because they lack metacognitive knowledge and believe they are too effortful. To facilitate students use of these so-called desirable difficulties during self-study, we developed the Study Smart program, an intervention geared toward creating awareness of, reflection on, and practice with effective learning strategies. Based on a three-year design and implementation process, we share the problems we encountered and illustrate with student testimonials. Moreover, we reflect on future steps to be taken in research and practice. Among them is the need to debunk nave theories about learning strategies in students and teachers and to support the behavior change needed to develop effective study habits by implementing effective learning strategies in teaching and providing follow-up reflection sessions.
Learning strategies that create “desirable difficulties” by slowing or hindering improvement during learning often produce superior long-term retention and transfer (Bjork, 1994, Bjork, 1999). Despite the desirability of difficulties for learning, many learners choose not to use the learning strategies and/or disengage when they are implemented by a teacher. Knowledge of these learning strategies is necessary but insufficient for behavior change—learners must be motivated to embrace or, at minimum cope, with difficulties. To identify ways to help students engage with learning strategies that produce desirable difficulties, the present article briefly reviews five areas of psychological research on motivation that provide strategies for increasing engagement and persistence: finding value, reducing cost, reframing appraisals and attributions, creating appropriate challenges, and providing choice. Looking forward, there is a clear need for empirical work to investigate and theoretical frameworks to explain the interplay between motivation and learning strategies that create desirable difficulties.
Instructional information can be categorised as being either transient or permanent. Spoken information or videos provide examples of transient information, while written information or static graphics provide examples of permanent information. The major characteristic of transient information is that current information, once presented, disappears to be replaced by new information, with the old information difficult to access. Permanent information, once presented, remains available and accessible for the duration of the instructional episode. The transient information effect or principle can be demonstrated when the same information is presented in either transient form such as speech or permanent form such as identical, written text. The effect occurs when learning is facilitated by the permanent version of the information. Cognitive load theory can be used to explain such results.
Expanding on academic continuity planning research in higher education, this article presents two models for transitioning hands-on coursework online. Integrating precedent, case study, and autoethnography methods, the article analyzes higher education leadership and faculty decision-making within the context of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic at The College of Fine Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. When COVID-19 closed campuses worldwide, 98% of over 1,200 College of Fine Arts class sections were happening in-person; most of those courses required hands-on, applied learning, which is challenging to translate online. With few exceptions, these courses not only continued, but they also demonstrated academic resilience—the ability to survive, adapt, and grow. Academic continuity and planning researchers have reached consensus that institutions need to support high-quality online coursework to effectively manage disruptions; the problem presented in this article is that extant academic continuity models too often conceptualize faculty, students, and staff as a single user with a set of common characteristics and needs related to online learning. Such generalized conceptualizations lead to academic continuity planning strategies and tactics that do not account for the variegated complexities involved in online hands-on education.
The application of cognitive strategies for learning new information has been investigated in the literature for decades. ICAP, a theory about the four modes that students can engage to learn, can be used to rank and evaluate the effectiveness of strategies for enhancing learning with deeper understanding, based on the mode it belongs to, without carrying out an experimental study. Using the criteria for the ICAP modes, we categorized 50 different learning strategies according to the four modes of ICAP: Interactive, Constructive, Active, Passive, which predict learning levels in a descending order, from Interactive, to Constructive, to Active, to Passive.
When a multimedia lesson containing complicated material is presented at a fast pace, the result can be a form of cognitive overload called essential overload. Three multimedia design methods intended to minimize essential overload are the segmenting, pre-training, and modality principles. The segmenting principle is that people learn more deeply when a multimedia message is presented in learner-paced segments rather than as a continuous unit. The pre-training principle is that people learn more deeply from a multimedia message when they know the names and characteristics of the main concepts. The modality principle is that people learn more deeply from a multimedia message when the words are spoken rather than printed.
Generative learning involves actively making sense of the learning material by engaging in activities for organizing the material and integrating it with one’s existing knowledge. This chapter explores activities that support generative learning from multimedia lessons: verbalizing, visualizing, and enacting. Verbalizing activities involve generating words to distill key ideas (learning by summarizing) or make inferences to clarify the meaning of the material for oneself (learning by self-explaining) or for others (learning by teaching). Visualizing activities involve generating external visuospatial representations that depict physical structures (learning by drawing) or abstract relationships (learning by mapping), or internal mental images that depict the content of the lesson (learning by imagining). Enacting activities involve generating movements such as hand gestures (learning by gesturing) or object manipulations (learning by manipulating) to map abstract concepts onto meaningful actions.
Two experiments compared the effects of learning by drawing to studying instructor-provided visuals on learning outcomes, learning time, and cognitive load. College students studied a text on the human circulatory system and completed comprehension and transfer tests. In Experiment 1 (N = 107), students studied the text with provided visuals (provided visuals) or generated their own drawings from a text with text-based support (verbally-supported drawing) or without support (unsupported drawing). Results showed that while the verbally-supported drawing condition spent significantly more time and experienced significantly higher cognitive load than the provided visuals condition, there were no differences across the three conditions in learning outcomes. In Experiment 2 (N = 85), students studied the text with provided visuals (provided visuals) or generated drawings from the text with provided visuals as feedback (visually-supported drawing). Results showed that the visually-supported drawing condition spent significantly more time and experienced significantly higher cognitive load than the studying provided visuals condition but also performed significantly better than the provided visuals condition on the comprehension test. These findings suggest generating drawings prior to studying provided visuals is worth the time and effort.
This research explores the use of guided notes in a post-secondary calculus course and the extent to which use enhanced students’ success in a first year calculus course. Guided notes have been previously shown to be perceived as helpful to learning by students, and one study showed that the use of guided notes improved pass rates in a first year college algebra course. Using an experimental design, our results show that guided notes improved outcomes for students when compared to a control group that did not use guided notes–logistic regression modelling found evidence that guided notes, mathematical aptitude and gender (male) were associated with a higher probability of a student successfully completing the course. No significant interactions between guided notes and gender was observed. Implications for further research and practitioners are included.
Background. Research regarding teaching expectancy has been mostly conducted in
research laboratories with college students. These studies provide insufficient evidence
regarding its effect on learners’ delayed comprehension. Moreover, the relative
superiority of teaching a peer face to face compared to teaching an imagined peer lacks
empirical support.
Aims. The purpose of the study was to investigate the interactivity of teaching by
comparing peer teaching to imagined teaching, as well as enhancing the generalizability of the teaching expectancy effect by testing it in a secondary school environment.
Sample. A total of 597 students (282 males) from 12 classes in a secondary school were
recruited to participate in the study as part of their psychology course.
Methods. Participants were randomly assigned to one of six conditions formed by a 2
(teaching expectancy vs. testing expectancy) x 3 (peer teaching vs. imagined teaching vs.
no teaching) between-subjects design. Their immediate and delayed comprehension
tests, motivation, and perceived difficulty were measured as dependent variables.
Results. Imagined teaching enhanced both immediate and delayed comprehension, but
peer teaching only enhanced immediate comprehension. Moreover, the effects of
imagined teaching on perceived difficulty and motivation were dependent upon teaching
expectancy or testing expectancy.
Conclusions. Our findings provide empirical evidence to the existing theoretical
frameworks, but caution should be taken when applying imagined teaching in practice.
Background
Psychology courses provide a good opportunity for instructors to teach students effective learning strategies integrated with content.
Objective
This replication and extension study explored changes in students’ self-reported use of learning strategies before and after a term paper assignment and examined the relationships between learning strategy use and academic performance.
Method
Three hundred eighty-five introductory psychology students completed surveys on their use of 11 learning strategies at the beginning and end of the semester, read an empirical article and wrote a term paper about the learning strategy of practice testing, and completed four exams among other assessments.
Results
Replicating prior work, students generally reported improvements in their use of learning strategies over the course of the semester, though improvements were largely attributable to grade point average (GPA). Two learning strategies—self-explanation and practice testing—were positively correlated with course performance in the second half of the semester, over and above the effects associated with GPA.
Conclusion
Teaching students about beneficial learning strategies may increase their adoption of those strategies as well as their course performance, replicating prior research.
Teaching Implications
In order to improve course performance, instructors may consider adapting assignments in ways that increase students’ knowledge and use of effective learning strategies.
This study explored smartwatches’ potential for implementing and automatizing the use of retrieval as a study tool outside of classroom contexts. Across five experiments, review prompts delivered via a smartwatch after reading scientific passages enhanced retention of factual information from the passages and reduced forgetting after a two-day delay. The delivery format—delivery in the form of testing versus in the form of restudying— mattered to the level of learning benefit shown. Consistent with the testing effect, delivering the information as a test question followed a minute later by its answer was generally more beneficial than delivering it as a mere factual statement for restudy. Whether participants were reading magazines, watching Netflix episodes, or engaging with their own smartphones while receiving the smartwatch prompts made no difference to the beneficial effect of the smartwatch prompting on retention. Thus, smartwatch prompts can be applied strategically to automatize outside-of-the-classroom learning reinforcement.
The practice assignments in a mathematics textbook or course can be arranged so that most of the problems relating to any particular concept are massed together in a single assignment, or these related problems can be distributed across many assignments – a format known as spaced practice. Here we report the results of two classroom experiments that assessed the effects of mathematics spacing on both test scores and students’ predictions of their test scores. In each experiment, students in Year 7 (11‐12 years of age) either massed their practice into a single session or divided their practice across three sessions spaced one week apart, followed one month later by a test. In both experiments, spaced practice produced higher test scores than did massed practice, and test score predictions were relatively accurate after spaced practice yet grossly overconfident after massed practice.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
The use of effective study strategies is important for academic achievement, yet research indicates that students often use relatively ineffective learning strategies. Though potent strategies to promote durable learning exist, there is a lack of theoretical and empirical work on how to train students to self-regulate use of these strategies successfully. We summarize a novel framework to do so: the knowledge, belief, commitment, and planning ( KBCP) framework. The assumptions are that learners must develop knowledge about a strategy and how to use it, believe that the strategy is effective for the individual learner, commit to the strategy, and create an action plan for carrying it out. We then describe an example of the KBCP framework as applied to a college course on teaching students effective learning strategies and self-regulation of these strategies in their college coursework. Lectures on specific learning strategies conveyed knowledge about the strategies, in-class demonstrations illustrated their efficacy (to support belief), and assignments required students to develop a plan for applying them to their courses and to implement the plan (to ensure commitment). Discussion focuses on the implications of including training in how to use learning strategies in psychology courses and curricula, and on the possible extension of such training to the teaching of other psychology content.
We examined self-directed studying of students in an introductory (Study 1) and upper-level (Study 2) psychology course. Students reported their study behaviors for Exam 1 and 2, and wrote Exam 2 study plans. In both studies, students planned to and ultimately did use more active strategies for Exam 2 than Exam 1. However, they struggled to follow through on plans to space studying over time. In Study 1, we also found that greater use of active strategies (e.g., retrieval practice) was associated with higher exam scores when controlling for factors such as study time. Our findings highlight that students across course levels are interested in changing their study behaviors and we note implications for instructors.
Research has demonstrated that oral explaining to a fictitious student improves learning. Whether these findings replicate, when students are writing explanations, and whether instructional explaining is more effective than other explaining strategies, such as self-explaining, is unclear. In two experiments, we compared written instructional explaining to written self-explaining, and also included written retrieval and a baseline control condition. In Experiment 1 (N = 147, between-participants-design, laboratory experiment), we obtained no effect of explaining. In Experiment 2 (N = 50, within-participants-design, field-experiment), only self-explaining was more effective than our control conditions for attaining transfer. Self-explaining was more effective than instructional explaining. A cumulating meta-analysis on students’ learning revealed a small effect of instructional explaining on conceptual knowledge (g = 0.22), which was moderated by the modality of explaining (oral explaining > written explaining). These findings indicate that students who write explanations are better off self-explaining than explaining to a fictitious student.
Research targeting desirable difficulties has provided researchers and educators with a deeper understanding of the methods of study that benefit long-term learning. This literature has also provided important insights about why students do not always prefer practice methods that result in long term learning gains. Research targeting the interaction of motivation and cognition can provide additional insights into the factors underlying students’ self-regulatory learning behaviors. The current paper discusses research on the role of motivation derived from our past achievement experiences, which can enrich our understanding of the factors that influence student's achievement choices. For example, memories of prior academic experiences influence student motivation and serve as the basis for task specific expectancies and values, which are reflected in the amount of effort and the strategies learners deploy on learning and problem-solving tasks. The paper highlights findings from the literatures on achievement motivation and judgment and decision making in an effort to broaden and enrich the discussion of the application of desirable difficulties to multidimensional educational contexts.
Background
Undergraduates may not use the most effective learning strategies, particularly those considered “desirable difficulties” such as spacing, elaboration, and testing (“SET”).
Objective
This study examined knowledge-based, metacognitive, and behavioral outcomes from interventions designed to teach undergraduates about the “SET” strategies and about behavior change techniques to support adoption of these study behaviors.
Method
Introductory psychology students ( n = 244) received a learning-strategies-only intervention (LS), a learning-strategies-plus-behavior-change (LS+BC) intervention, or no intervention. They completed three assessment surveys to measure outcomes across the semester.
Results
Intervention participants showed enhanced knowledge of the “SET” strategies. LS participants rated testing as more helpful, reported higher use of elaboration and testing, and had marginally higher final course grades than the control group. Adding behavior-change training did not enhance the outcomes. Growth mindset was associated with greater intervention-related gains on several measures.
Conclusion
Curriculum-embedded LS training was associated with positive shifts in “SET” strategy knowledge and with behavioral changes for two strategies.
Teaching Implication
This study provides evidence of the benefits of LS training as integrated into the introductory psychology curriculum, and can help guide educators to support students in acquiring more effective study strategies.
Background:
Participation in physical activity (PA) is a modifiable factor that contributes to academic success, yet the optimal dose (ie, frequency) and mechanisms underlying the effect require further exploration.
Methods:
Using data from 19,886 elementary and 11,238 secondary school students across Ontario, Canada, this study examined associations between PA participation frequency, academic achievement, and inattention and hyperactivity.
Results:
Among elementary students, there was a positive association between PA frequency and academic achievement. Participating in 1 to 2 days per week of PA related to higher academic achievement compared with no days, whereas 7 days per week had the largest associations. For secondary students, a minimum of 3 to 4 days per week was associated with higher academic achievement with no significant benefit of additional days. Indirect effects of inattention and hyperactivity were found for both groups, suggesting that the benefits of PA on academic achievement may be partly explained by reductions in inattention and hyperactivity, especially for secondary school students.
Conclusion:
Students may experience academic benefits from PA even if they are not meeting the guidelines of exercising daily. These benefits may occur, in part, through reductions in inattention and hyperactivity. Further work is needed to determine the temporality and mechanism of these associations.
In the present study, we tested the effectiveness of three learning strategies (self-explanation, learning by teaching and passive viewing) used by students who were learning from video lectures. Effectiveness was measured not only with traditional measures, but also with electroencephalography (EEG). Using a within-subjects design, 26 university students viewed three sets of short lectures, each presenting a different set of English vocabulary words and were asked to use a different learning strategy for each set of lectures. Participants’ EEG signals were assessed while watching the
videos; learning experience (self-reported motivation and engagement) and learning performance (vocabulary recall test score) were assessed after watching the videos. Repeated measures ANOVAs showed that the self-explaining and teaching strategies
were more beneficial than the passive viewing strategy, as indicated by higher EEG theta and alpha band power, a more positive learning experience (higher motivation and engagement) and better learning performance. However, whereas the teaching strategy elicited greater neural oscillations related to working memory and attention compared to the self-explanation strategy, the two groups did not differ on self-reported learning experience or learning performance. Our findings are discussed in terms of potential application in courses using video lectures and in terms of their heuristic value for future research on the neural processes that differentiate learning strategies.