Dr. Cynthia Fadler Assistant Professor of Psychology Sibley Day 2014

  Some frequent answers  Rereading  Cramming  Flash cards  How do you use them?  Highlighting How do you study?

  What doesn’t work  For each technique:  Relevant background research  Why it doesn’t work  What does work  For each technique:  Relevant background research  Why it works  How to use it both in and out of the classroom  Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan, & Willingham (2013), PSPI Outline of today’s talk

 What doesn’t work

 Summarizing

  Reading a text and writing a summary in your own words  Enhances gist understanding of the text Summarizing

  Undergraduates read Web units  Two groups:  Just read  Summarize as if explaining to a friend  Multiple choice, short answer, application Bednall & Kehoe, 2011 Summarizing

  Why it doesn’t work:  Summarization means a lot of different things  Quality of summary matters  The type of material that is being summarized is an important factor Summarizing

 Highlighting

  Somehow indicating the important information in text Highlighting

 Start of studyTwo weeksTwo months 1. Read chapterStudy ch.Test 2. Highlight chapterStudy blank ch.Test 3. Highlight chapterStudy highlighted ch.Test  All groups equal on fact-based questions  Highlight group worst on conceptual questions  Peterson, 1992 Highlighting

  Why it doesn’t work  A lot of variability in type of highlighting  More highlighting does not mean more retention  Bad for application Highlighting

 Rereading

  Repeatedly reading the textbook, powerpoint slides, or notes Rereading

  Undergraduates read short passage 0, 1, 2, or 4 times  After 10-min delay, filled in missing words from passage Rothkopf, 1968 Rereading

  Why it doesn’t work  Ok, it does….  but not as well as other things you could do with your time.  Appears to be a qualitative, not quantitative improvement  Better with spaced than massed rereading Rereading

 What does work

 Elaboration

  Answering, “Why?” for specific facts and concepts.  E.g.  To-be-learned fact: Correlation does not equal causation  Why?: There could be a third extraneous variable that explains the relationship. Elaboration

  Undergraduates read sentences such as:  “The hungry man got into the car”  3 groups:  Why did he do that?  What did he do next?  Just read.  Final test  Why: ~72%  Other two groups: ~37%  Pressley, McDaniel, Turnure, Wood, & Ahmad, 1987 Elaboration

  Why does it work?  Supports integration of new knowledge with prior knowledge  Supports organization of new information Elaboration

  Students  Ask, “Why?”  Think of how new facts are related to things you already know  Instructors  Encourage this behavior by creating “connection papers” or discussion topics  Ask questions on exams that relate new concepts with earlier concepts in the course  Caveat  Only works if prior knowledge exists! Elaboration

 Testing

  Taking practice tests or self-testing; flashcards  NOT summative assessments Testing

  Undergraduates read two passages  After one, “read again”  After the other, “recall as much as you can”  After a delay, try to recall as much as possible  5 min, 2 days, or 1 week  Roediger & Karpicke, 2006 Testing

 Roediger & Karpicke, 2006

  Why it works  Direct effects  Strengthen connection between question and answer  Activate related information  Better organization  Mediated effects  Metacognition Testing

  Students:  Take advantage of the practice tests at the end of textbook chapters  Create flashcards  But don’t throw out the ones you get right!  Instructors  Use low-stakes quizzes in the classroom  Ask lots of open-ended questions during lecture  But require answers!  Give early feedback Testing

 Interleaving

  Using different types of studying (e.g. re-reading, testing, etc.) and studying different materials (e.g. multiple chapters) in a single study session Interleaving

  Undergraduates learned to compute volumes of solids  Group 1: Read S1, Problems S1, Read S2, Problems S2…  Group 2: Read all solids, Complete all problems in random order  Feedback after each problem  Test 1 week later  Rohrer & Taylor, 2007 Interleaving



  Why it works  Practicing at identifying when to use what  Promotes organization and item-specific processing  Comparison of different types of items  Retrieval practice Interleaving

  Students  Make comparisons between similar items  Jump around when doing practice problems  Shuffle flashcards  Instructors  Ask compare/contrast questions  Do not categorize homework assignments  Ask questions over entire lecture, not just as you go along Interleaving

 Spacing

  Spreading out study activities over time Spacing

  Undergraduates were presented with Spanish- English translations  Quizzed w/feedback at different intervals  0 days  1 day  30 days  5 total quizzes  Returned 30 days after last quiz for a final test  Bahrick, 1979 Spacing



  Why it works  Lots of theories; lots of potential mechanisms  Ease of retrieval or understanding leads to lazy learning Spacing

  Students  DON’T CRAM!!!  “Successful” cramming = mix it up  Instructors  Assignments throughout sections of the course  “Comprehensive” exams Spacing

 Science says… What works  Elaboration*  Interleaving*  Spacing  Testing What doesn’t  Summarizing  Highlighting  Rereading *Not yet definitive

  Stop highlighting  Study throughout the semester  During each episode:  Mix things up  Test yourself  Keep flashcards in rotation even when correct  If you’re going to cram:  Take breaks  Get a good night’s sleep! Ideal studying

  Take a class:  PSY330: Learning and Memory   Look it up:  Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K.A., Marsh, E.J., Nathan, M.J, & Willingham, D.T. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14, For more information…