ASSESSMENT TO PRODUCE LEARNING

The Testing Effect

Overview: Learning Process

Disruption

Goal-Setting

Making Connections

Rehearsing

Feedback (and Revision)

Frequent Assessment

“The Critical Importance of Retrieval for Learning”

Test and Study 80%Test but NO Study 80%

NO Test OR Study 33%Study but NO Test 35%

Karpicke and RoedigerScience

Transience

“When information has not been used for longer and longer periods of time, it becomes less and less likely that it will be needed in the future . . . our memory systems have picked up on this . . . and in essence made a bet that when we haven't used information recently, we probably won't need it in the future.”

Daniel SchacterThe Seven Sins of Memory

Limits of Memory

“In long-term-memory the limiting factor is not storage capacity, but rather the ability to find what you need when you need it. Long-term memory is rather like having a vast amount of closet space—it is easy to store many items, but it is difficult to retrieve the needed item in a timely fashion.”

Michelle MillerCollege Teaching

Transience Redux

“Memories . . . are encoded by modifications in the strengths of connections among neurons. When we experience an event or acquire a new fact, complex chemical changes occur at the junctions—synapses—that connect neurons with one another. Experiments indicate that with the passage of time, these modifications can dissipate . . . Unless strengthened by subsequent retrieval and recounting, the connections become so weak that recall is eventually precluded.

Daniel SchacterThe Seven Sins of Memory

The Testing Effect

Frequent, Low-Stakes Assessments

Short-answer quizzesClicker questionsWriting exercisesGroup application tasksIntegrative activities

“Testing” on the Edges

Oral Questions

What did we cover in Wednesday’s class? How about Monday’s class?

What was the most important concept from last night’s reading?

How does this idea connect to the material we covered last week?

What key concept from today should you remember for the final exam?

The Minute Paper: Learning

Class concluded with “brief questions about the material that had just been discussed in class.”

Course Condition Failure/Dropout %

Control sections 34.5Minute paper sections 16.7

Brian J. RogersonJournal of Chemical Education 80.2

The Minute Paper: Evaluations

In addition to learning, course evaluations improved:

Course Condition Highest Course Rating %

Control Sections 50“Minute Paper” sections 68.1

Rogerson

The Pre-Testing Effect

“In a series of experiments, [Kornell, Hays, and Bjork] showed that if students make an unsuccessful attempt to retrieve information before receiving an answer, they remember the information better than in a control condition in which they simply study the information. Trying and failing to retrieve the answer is actually helpful to learning.”

Roediger and FinnScientific American