Using tests to enhance 8 th grade students’ retention of U.S. history facts

SUMMARY Laboratory studies show that retention of information can be powerfully enhanced through testing, but evidence for their utility to promote long-term retention of course information is limited. We assessed 8th grade students' retention of U.S. history facts. Facts were reviewed after 1 week, 16 weeks or not reviewed at all. Some facts were reviewed by testing (Who assassinated president Abraham Lincoln?) followed by feedback (John Wilkes Booth), while others were re-studied. Nine months later, all students received a test covering all of the facts. Facts reviewed through testing were retained significantly better than facts reviewed through re-studying, and nearly twice as well as those given no review. The best retention occurred for facts that were reviewed by testing after a 16-week time interval. Although the gain in item was numerically small, due to floor effects, these results support the notion that testing can enhance long-term retention of course knowledge

Testing beyond words: Using tests to enhance visuospatial map learning

Psychological research shows that learning can be powerfully enhanced through testing, but this finding has so far been confined to memory tasks requiring verbal responses. We explored whether testing can enhance learning of visuospatial information in maps. Fifty subjects each studied 2 maps, one through conventional study, and the other through computer-prompted tests. For the tests, subjects were repeatedly presented with the same map with one feature deleted (e.g., a road or river), and tried to covertly recall the missing feature and its location. Subjects’ map drawings after 30 minutes were significantly better for maps learned through tests as compared to the same amount of time devoted to conventional study. These results suggest that the testing effect is not limited to the types of memory that require discrete, verbal responses, and that utilizing covert retrievals may allow the effect to be extended to a variety of complex nonverbal learning tasks

Testing Beyond Words: Using Tests to Enhance Visuospatial Map Learning

Psychological research shows that learning can be powerfully enhanced through testing, but this finding has so far been confined to memory tasks requiring verbal responses. We explored whether testing can enhance learning of visuospatial information in maps. Fifty subjects each studied 2 maps, one through conventional study, and the other through computer-prompted tests. For the tests, subjects were repeatedly presented with the same map with one feature deleted (e.g., a road or river), and tried to covertly recall the missing feature and its location. Subjects’ map drawings after 30 minutes were significantly better for maps learned through tests as compared to the same amount of time devoted to conventional study. These results suggest that the testing effect is not limited to the types of memory that require discrete, verbal responses, and that utilizing covert retrievals may allow the effect to be extended to a variety of complex nonverbal learning tasks

The role of mediator strength in learning from retrieval

Previous studies have provided support for the idea that information activated during retrieval can act as a mediator that facilitates later recall of a target. Evidence for this has been obtained from a paradigm involving independent cues in which participants initially learn cue-target pairs through retrieval (Mother: _____) or restudying (Mother: Child), and later show stronger benefits of retrieval over restudy in recalling targets from final test cues that are strongly related to the original cue (Father: _____) compared to cues that are unrelated to the original cues (Birth: _____). The current study used a new paradigm to explore the role of mediators in learning from retrieval by comparing the advantage of retrieval over restudying for cue-target pairs that varied in mediator strength (i.e., the strength of the strongest first associate to the cue). Across three experiments, items higher in mediator strength (e.g., Chalk: Crayon, with Chalk producing its strongest first associate Board at a rate of .69) produced stronger testing effects than items lower in mediator strength (e.g., Soup: Onion, with Soup producing its strongest first associate Chicken at a rate of .10). Item analyses revealed that mediator strength was positively associated with final test recall of items learned through retrieval but not through restudying, and this relationship held after controlling for other linguistic properties of the cues

Students' Use of Retrieval in Self-Regulated Learning:Implications for Monitoring and Regulating Effortful Learning Experiences

Retrieval practice has been widely studied as an effective strategy for enhancing memory. In this review article, we discuss how its effects on learning complex problem-solving procedures are less straightforward, however, with repeated studying of worked examples sometimes more effective than problem-solving practice. This worked example benefit has been interpreted within the framework of cognitive load theory. In both memory-based tasks and problem-solving tasks, students rate retrieval as more effortful, and less effective for learning, than repeated study. Self-regulated learning decisions do not align with the evidence about the effectiveness of retrieval, as students often avoid using retrieval in memory-based tasks but frequently use it in more complex problem-solving tasks. Patterns associated with self-report survey data and self-regulated learning decisions suggest that retrieval may be used primarily as a means of checking knowledge, and the effort experienced during retrieval may drive subsequent study decisions (i.e., the choice to engage in retrieval vs. further study) to the extent that the experienced effort is interpreted as a sign that learning has been ineffective. We discuss implications of students' views about the purpose of retrieval for effective monitoring and regulation of effort during learning, and propose interventions that may improve students' optimal use of retrieval in their study decisions

The science of effective learning with spacing and retrieval practice

10.1038/s44159-022-00089-1Nature Reviews Psychology19496-51