John Tagg Parker University September 13, 2012

 Paper and writing implement  Index cards marked A, B, C, and D

a. Yes b. No

a. To assign grades b. To reinforce previous learning c. To get students to study before the exam d. To guide students to study after the exam e. Other

a. To maximize learning at the time of the exam b. To maximize learning at the end of the semester c. To maximize learning a year later d. To maximize learning five years later

 Essays—Encourage a deep approach  Multiple-choice—Encourage a surface approach  Short-answer—Can encourage a deep approach if well designed.  Noel Entwistle, Teaching for Understanding at University: Deep Approaches and Distinctive Ways of Thinking, 2009

 Testing for Grading = Evaluation  Testing for Learning = Feedback

 “A constantly growing body of research demonstrates that tests are themselves learning events. The retrieval processes triggered by tests enhance subsequent recall, sometimes to a much greater degree than do comparable opportunities to restudy the information in question.”  Vered Halamish and Robert A. Bjork, “When Does Testing Enhance Retention? A Distribution-Based Interpretation of Retrieval as Memory Modifier,” Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2011.

Physical Science Original Final Exam Score Skewed Left Distribution Mean 77

Physical Science Retaken Final Exam Score Approaching Standard Normal Mean 47

Physical Science PS100: Original vs Retaken Score

Physical Science A -34 B -28 C -16 A students forgot most B students less C students least A students forgot most B students less C students least

 “Surveys of college students show that most of them study almost entirely by rereading, with self-testing relatively rarely employed.”  Doug Rohrer and Harold Pashler, “Recent Research on Human Learning Challenges Conventional Instructional Strategies,” Educational Researcher, 2010.

 “Recent studies... Have shown that a combination of study and tests is more effective than spending the same amount of time reviewing the material in some other way, such as rereading it.”  Rohrer and Pashler, 2010

 “Retrieving an event can be a more potent learning opportunity than restudying it, which flies in the face of educational wisdom that studying creates learning and testing merely measures it.”  Henry L. Roediger III and Jeffrey D. Karpicke, “Intricacies of Spaces Retrieval: A Resolution,” 2011

 Are field-dependent, different in different domains,  Are not reducible to self-confidence or self- esteem,  Are theories about how your intelligence or ability works when applied to challenges in a given domain.

Fixed Mindset Ability is fixed, by heredity or early experience, and cannot be changed. Growth Mindset Ability is malleable, can be increased or decreased by effort and application.

“Entering a challenging scholastic setting with a belief in fixed intelligence seems to set students up for self-doubt, anxiety, and drops in achievement. The [fixed mindset] theory puts a premium on immediate demonstrations of intellectual ability rather than on mastery over time” --Carol Dweck, Self-Theories: Theoir Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development, 2000

 College students were given one of two articles, advocating fixed or growth mindsets,  Then asked to work a set of problems, then another set.  After feedback, given a chance to take a tutorial.

Those who read the article advocating a growth mindset theory 73.3 % chose the tutorial Those who read the article advocating a fixed mindset theory 60% chose the tutorial

Those who read the article advocating a growth mindset theory 73.3% chose the tutorial Those who read the article advocating a fixed mindset theory 13.3% chose the tutorial

 Testing for pure evaluation reinforces a fixed mindset.  Testing for feedback reinforces a growth mindset.  Embedded testing in interactive lectures— classroom response system—radically challenges a fixed mindset.

a. Recognition b. Recall c. Constructed Response d. Other

a. Recognition b. Recall c. Constructed Response

 Classroom Response Systems

 “[E]xplicit retrieval, as required by a recall task rather than a recognition task, strengthened knowledge better than a multiple-choice test even when the final test itself involves multiple choice—and thus the effect is not attributable to a simple principle that practicing a given type of test best enhances performance on the same type of test.”  Rohrer and Pashler, 2010

 Blocked (aaabbbccc): problems or questions are grouped with other problems or questions of the same type.  Interleaved (abcbcacab): problems or questions are intermixed with other types of problems or questions.

a. Blocked b. Interleaved

a. Blocked b. Interleaved

a. Frequently b. Occasionally c. Never

 “If a person wishes to retain information for several years, a delayed review of at least several months seems likely to produce a highly favorable return on the time investment— potentially doubling the amount ultimately remembered....”  Nicholas J. Cepeda, et al., “Spacing Effects in Learning: A Temporal Ridgeline of Optimal Retention,” 2008.

 If students see testing as a process of feedback, then they will use them to reinforce learning.  If students see tests as pure evaluation, then they will be more likely to take a surface approach.  If students see tests as repeatable, they will view them as feedback; if they see them as final, they will view them as evaluation.

 Final: “Not to be altered or undone; coming at the end: being the last in a series, process, or progress.”  Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary

 Repeat them  Interleave questions from previous units  Revise them— “Buy back” questions or revise answers  Make them preparation for another assignment or another test  Make every exam an “interim exam”—a step toward future application of tested learning.