For Teachers

While utilizing retrieval practice on its own will enhance student learning, research has shown that there are three considerations that teachers must think about in order to amplify the impact that retrieval practice has on long-term retention: spacing, interleaving, and feedback. SpacingSpacing is described as distributing practice over time and research has shown that this strategy…

In a recently published article, the authors took exam wrappers one step further and sent students to our blog to learn more about retrieval practice and metacognition in particular and to see how that would impact students’ strategy choices (2).We know that left to their own devices students most often choose less than desirable strategies,…

Now, onto the written coverage of this paper, by Jennifer Brigati and colleagues (1)! Note: my written coverage overlaps with the video, but is not a perfect replication. There’s a little something extra in each, based on how I’ve been tossing these ideas around in my head over the last few weeks.The studyIn their 2020…

When students use self-consequenting, they identify and provide either extrinsic rewards for talk completion (“After I finish this paper I’ll go get ice cream”) or negative consequences that might occur after poor performance (“If I don’t finish this paper I can’t get ice cream”). These consequences can be long-term - students may remind themselves of…

References(1) Allen, M., LeFebvre, L., LeFebvre, L., & Bourhis, J. (2020). Is the Pencil Mightier than the Keyboard? A Meta-Analysis Comparing the Method of Notetaking Outcomes. Southern Communication Journal, 85(3), 143–154. https://doi.org/10.1080/1041794X.2020.1764613 (2) Voyer, D., Ronis, S. T., & Byers, N. (2022). The effect of notetaking method on academic performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis.…

cover image by Skitterphoto on PexelsThe idea of authentic assessments has been around for over 30 years now. In 1990, Grant Wiggins coined the term ‘authentic assessment’ (1) and in recent years this assessment approach has received a considerable boost. The pandemic as well as the rise of AI in education have required educators to…

1) Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ)The MSLQ is in the public domain and is free to use with acknowledgement to the authors. The MSLQ is divided into several different scales. The Motivation Scales assess Value Components (intrinsic and extrinsic task orientations, task value), Expectancy Components (control beliefs, self-efficacy), and Affective Components (test anxiety). The…

By Althea Need KaminskeCover image by Mizuno K from PexelsRecently, Cindy talked about how the Yerkes-Dodson Law (or performance-arousal) is less of a law and more of a nice story about how stress influences performance. The performance-arousal curve is a handy explanation for a lot of different patterns and, on the surface, it seems to…

Students in the experiment read the explanations and completed their practice cases with feedback in the way outlined by their particular experimental condition (i.e., interleaved with one context, interleaved with two contexts, blocked with one context, blocked with two contexts). Measuring Learning and TransferThe students were then tested to see how much they could remember…

By Carolina Kuepper-TetzelImagine you are enrolled in a life sciences course and learning about stochastic molecular motion in biological systems (i.e., how molecules move in random ways within cells and other parts of living things). You are given the option to study the topic using either a) expository instruction which focuses on explaining the topic,…