Simons – Annotated Bibliography Biology Scholars Research Residency

Brame, C.J., & Biel, R. (2015). Test-Enhanced Learning: The Potential for Testing to Promote Greater Learning in Undergraduate Science Courses. CBE Life Sci Educ, 14(2), 1-12.

This review article discusses how formative and summative assessments can be used as learning tools. They cite Roediger and Karpicke (2006a), who describe the following study: In a laboratory setting, they compared students assigned to repeated study of material with students assigned to repeated testing. They assessed learning with a test similar to the formative assessment, and found that repeated study gives better results in the short-term, but repeated testing gives better results in the long-term. They also cite Karpicke and Blunt, 2011, who compared “retrieval practice” (a practice quiz) with concept mapping. They measured learning gains with a final test, and found better achievement of learning gains with retrieval practice even when the final test involved concept mapping. Brame and Biel also describe other ways in which assessment can be used as a learning tool, including several study methods, and note that students show gains in critical thinking, not just rote memorization. This article is useful as a reference to a number of other specific studies, with information on methodology and assessment.

Butler, A.C. (2010). Repeated testing produces superior transfer of learning relative to repeated studying. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 36(5), 1118- 1133.

This article looks at a controlled psychology laboratory study (not a classroom-based study) in which subjects were given repeated study opportunities, repeated identical tests, or repeated variable tests. Results indicated that repeated testing yielded better outcomes on a final test, both using identical and variable tests. This article was also useful for methodology, since Butler also compared different questions on the final test: improved performance was true both for factual and conceptual questions on the final tests.

Karpicke, J.D., Roediger, H.L. III. (2008). The Crititcal Importance of Retrieval for Learning. Science, 15(319), 966-968.

In this article, consistently cited by others I read, the authors divided foreign-language students into study groups, with students either a) repeated study-test cycles for foreign-language vocabulary, b) repeatedly studying only vocabulary not identified correctly on an initial test but tested on all, c) repeatedly tested on vocabulary not identified but studying all, and d) dropping correctly identified vocabulary from both studying and testing. A week after this learning phase, students were tested for retention. While all groups performed similarly in the learning phase, and while all groups were equally confident in their abilities, only the groups subjected to repeated testing of previously learned words retained knowledge during a final test.

Klionsky,D. (2008). The Quiz Factor. CBE Life Sci Educ, 7, 265-26. Daniel Klionsky reviews cognitive data in a letter to the editor in CBE. He proposes that frequent assessment not just studying alone is important for student learning and retention, and that quizzes can improve performance on subsequent tests. He offers a suggestion for classroom management, with anecdotal evidence for learning that happens immediately after a quiz, when students compare notes with one another and self-assess their performance on the quiz.

Larsen D.P., Butler A.C., Roediger H.L. III. (2009). Repeated testing improves long-term retention relative to repeated study: a randomized controlled trial. Med Educ, 43, 1174–1181.

This study builds on Butler 2010 by taking repeated testing into the classroom. Larsen et al used two different topics in medical education. In one group of students, repeated study was used for one topic, while repeated testing was used for the second topic. In a second group, the teaching method was reversed. Students were tested 6 months after initial instruction. For both topics, the group that was subjected to repeated testing scored higher on the final test. This might be useful for methodology.