Learning Scientists Posts

Sometimes their recall was tested, and they were asked to produce the word. For example, “Tell me about the truck. The truck is very___” or “Tell me about the table. The table is very___” and they needed to finish the sentence. Sometimes they were tested with multiple-choice; they were shown four pictures and were asked…

With the constant advances in the medicine, medical training is continual and unabating. To start with, after spending typically four years earning a bachelor’s degree, medical professionals then typically spend four years in medical school, three to seven years in residency, and possibly a few years in fellowship. Then, relatively less formal education continues as…

 Experiment 1 ResultsStudents in the delayed feedback condition performed better on the exams than students in the “immediate” feedback condition. The difference was about 8%, or the difference between earning a B and an A. However, students’ perceptions did not match the exam results. The students that received the delayed feedback really didn’t like it.…

By Althea Need Kaminske Does test anxiety cause poorer performance on exams? Meta-analyses show that students with higher test anxiety tend to perform worse on exams (1). We also know that anxiety can affect cognitive processes through working memory capacity (2). Therefore, the general consensus is that test anxiety interferes with our working memory, which…

 How did they investigate these questions?They conducted two experiments. In the first experiment, participants were asked to study one of two text passages (biological anthropology versus geology) and then instructed participants to study in one of four conditions:1.    Provided-Flashcards: Participants were given premade flashcards from the textbooks to study with. These flashcards were heavily detail-level…

It is that time of year again! We’re taking a break to spend time with family and recharge for next year. We hope that you are able to stay safe and take time to enjoy the end of 2022, and ring in a happy new year! Our next post will be a blog post on…

The self-efficacy intervention was designed to be comprehensive, targeting all the different ways in which self-efficacy is thought to be influenced:1)      Previous experiences: If you think about times that you have been successful in the past, you are more likely to believe you can be successful in the future. For the intervention, students were provided…

Thank you to our workshop and talk sponsors and attendees! Thank you for inviting us into your space and giving us the opportunity to share evidence-based practices with others. We appreciate your invitation, generosity as hosts, and the excellent conversations and questions from attendees. Thank YOU, our readers! Your interest in, and passion for, learning…

By Althea Need KaminskeI recently taught about effective learning strategies in one of my courses and, as I do every week, reserved a day for questions and clarifications. My students asked a version of a question that I get a lot about effective learning strategies: “If this is so effective, why isn’t it being taught…

Why disfluency?There has been some research looking into whether reading something disfluent, like sans forgetica font, could improve learning via desirable difficulties. That is, when learning is more effortful, it often results in better long-term retention. Most recently, a meta-analysis (2) showed that disfluent font doesn’t lead to much better learning, but the hypothesis still…