Understandably, students don’t relish the sensation of staring at a question on a test (or a self-test) and dredging up an answer from their memories. And yet it turns out that retrieval is one of the most effective methods of studying/memorizing information, far superior to other common approaches such as underlining or notetaking. The case for the knowledge-building power of the “test effect” is convincingly made in this video and deserves understanding by teachers and students alike.
Our thanks to Bill Cerbin of the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse Center for Advancing Teaching & Learning for the video Test-Enhanced Learning Can Improve Student Learning
Pointers:
- This video describes one study that is representative of studies undertaken for over 100 years, all of which demonstrate that the retrieval of information necessitated by testing cements learning.
- Here testing beats out study, multiple opportunities to study, and concept-mapping as a means of enhancing student learning.
For more on this strategy, see the Institute of Education Science’s Practice Guide Organizing Instruction and Study to Improve Study Learning