Spaced mathematics practice improves test scores and reduces overconfidence

Emeny, William G.; Hartwig, Marissa K.; Rohrer, Doug

doi:10.1002/acp.3814

Cited by 13 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 34 publications

(46 reference statements)

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“…Their participants also preferred (and were keener to engage in) a massed practice schedule for future training. Relatedly, other researchers have found that participants erroneously predict either no difference or better performance following a massed (versus spaced) practice schedule (e.g., Emeny et al, 2021;Logan et al, 2012;Simon & Bjork, 2001;Zechmeister & Shaughnessy, 1980). In terms of the testing effect, when asked to make item-based judgments of learning, individuals often indicate that they will remember restudied material better than tested material, when the opposite is nearly always true (e.g., Karpicke, 2009;Kornell & Son, 2009;Potts & Shanks, 2014;Roediger & Karpicke, 2006).…”

Section: Metacognition and The Learning Experiencementioning

confidence: 99%

The benefits of successive relearning on multiple learning outcomes.

Higham¹,

Zengel²,

Bartlett³

et al. 2022

Journal of Educational Psychology

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Successive relearning involves repeated retrieval practice of the same information (with feedback) over multiple, spaced sessions. We implemented successive relearning in an introductory psychology class to explore potential learning benefits. After each weekly lecture, students were sent links via email to engage in three learning practice sessions, each separated by two days. Half the students engaged in successive relearning (relearn condition), answering 20 fill-in-the-blank questions with corrective feedback. Within each session, correctly answered questions were dropped, whereas incorrectly answered questions were presented up to 2 more times. The other half of students restudied the same 20 sentences without blanks twice per session (restudy condition). Unlike previous research, we controlled the exposure duration of the learning materials between the relearn and restudy conditions.Learning practice sessions continued throughout the remaining 10 weeks of the semester, with students alternating each week between the relearning and restudying tasks. Recall of course material at the end of the semester was better for relearning compared to restudying.Increased recall during relearning sessions was associated with further learning benefits including improved metacognition, increased self-reported sense of mastery, increased attentional control, and reduced anxiety. Individual differences were not associated with the benefit of relearning over restudying in the retention tests. Qualitative feedback indicated that students found successive relearning to be enjoyable and valuable. Our research indicates that successive relearning is a valuable addition to any university course and is easy to implement using digital resources.

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Section: Metacognition and The Learning Experiencementioning

confidence: 99%

The benefits of successive relearning on multiple learning outcomes.

Higham¹,

Zengel²,

Bartlett³

et al. 2022

Journal of Educational Psychology

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Spaced Retrieval Practice Imposes Desirable Difficulty in Calculus Learning

et al. 2022

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After being taught how to perform a new mathematical operation, students are often given several practice problems in a single set, such as a homework assignment or quiz (i.e., massed practice). An alternative approach is to distribute problems across multiple homeworks or quizzes, increasing the temporal interval between practice (i.e., spaced practice). Spaced practice has been shown to increase the long-term retention of various types of mathematics knowledge. Less clear is whether spacing decreases performance during practice, with some studies indicating that it does and others indicating it does not. To increase clarity, we tested whether spacing produces long-term retention gains, but short-term practice costs, in a calculus course. On practice quizzes, students worked problems on various learning objectives in either massed fashion (3 problems on a single quiz) or spaced fashion (3 problems across 3 quizzes). Spacing increased retention of learning objectives on an end-of-semester test but reduced performance on the practice quizzes. The reduction in practice performance was nuanced: Spacing reduced performance only on the first two quiz questions, leaving performance on the third question unaffected. We interpret these findings as evidence that spacing led to more protracted, but ultimately more robust, learning. We, therefore, conclude that spacing imposes a desirable form of difficulty in calculus learning.

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Optimizing learning through retrieval practice and spacing

Carpenter

2023

International Encyclopedia of Education(Fourth Edition)

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Spaced mathematics practice improves test scores and reduces overconfidence

Cited by 13 publications

References 34 publications

The benefits of successive relearning on multiple learning outcomes.

The benefits of successive relearning on multiple learning outcomes.

Spaced Retrieval Practice Imposes Desirable Difficulty in Calculus Learning

Optimizing learning through retrieval practice and spacing

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