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Rivers Dissertation.pdf (842.31 KB)

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Under What Conditions Do Students Learn From Experience About The Benefits Of Practice Testing For Learning?

Rivers, Michelle Lauren
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1625409046861153

Abstract Details

2021, PHD, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences.
Learners’ metacognitive judgments do not always reflect the memorial benefits of practice testing over restudying (i.e., the testing effect), which could limit their effective use of practice testing during self-regulated learning. The current investigation explored the conditions under which students can learn about the relative effectiveness of practice testing versus restudying for memory. Across two learning cycles, participants studied word pairs, practiced each pair through either restudying or testing, predicted how many pairs they would recall by strategy, then completed a critical test on the pairs. During this test, participants either received feedback about the number of restudied and tested pairs they had correctly recalled or made postdictions about their performance by strategy (i.e., generated their own feedback). During both cycles, participants predicted they would recall an equivalent number of tested and restudied pairs, although they actually recalled more of the tested pairs. However, when participants experienced a larger testing effect, they were able to more accurately estimate recall performance for each strategy and updated their knowledge to reflect the testing effect in their predictions on the second learning cycle. Thus, peoples’ ability to learn from experience about the testing effect is primarily constrained not by a failure to initiate the metacognitive processes required to monitor and track recall performance by strategy, but by the metacognitive burden of discriminating between small differences in recall between tested versus restudied material. In a follow-up experiment, I investigated the extent to which learners’ knowledge about practice testing can be improved via test experience, direct instruction, or a combination of both techniques. Both techniques – independently and in combination – lead to more accurate beliefs about the testing effect, but no technique was more effective than the other. In summary, people can learn about the testing effect when they experience a larger testing effect or when they receive instruction about its benefits.
John Dunlosky, PhD (Advisor)
Rawson Katherine, PhD (Committee Member)
Thompson Clarissa, PhD (Committee Member)
Spitznagel Mary Beth, PhD (Committee Member)
Morris Bradley, PhD (Committee Member)
96 p.
Education; Psychology
testing effect; retrieval practice; metacognition; instruction; feedback

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Rivers, M. L. (2021). Under What Conditions Do Students Learn From Experience About The Benefits Of Practice Testing For Learning? [Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1625409046861153

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Rivers, Michelle. Under What Conditions Do Students Learn From Experience About The Benefits Of Practice Testing For Learning? 2021. Kent State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1625409046861153.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Rivers, Michelle. "Under What Conditions Do Students Learn From Experience About The Benefits Of Practice Testing For Learning?" Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1625409046861153

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

kent1625409046861153
295
© 2021, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.
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