Participants tend to initiate immediate free recall (IFR) of short lists of words with the very first word on the list. Three experiments examined whether rehearsal is necessary for this recent finding. In Experiment 1, participants were presented with lists of between 2 and 12 words for IFR at a fast, medium, or slow rate, with and without…

The "flipped" classroom model, including such approaches as team-based learning (TBL), stresses pre-class preparation. For three years in a pharmacokinetics course within a pharmacy curriculum, students had the choice of using reading material or a fully animated module to prepare for class. Qualitative methods were used to analyze…

Introduction: In the framework of the intention-behavior-gap analysis in relation to exam preparation I examined whether intention--subdivided into goal and implementation intention--is influenced directly by the determinants action control, procrastination and examination experience which is consistent with the Theory of Planned Behavior and…

Any effort to assess the motivational techniques employed by community college faculty is complicated by the inter-connectedness of motivational techniques and teaching techniques, as improved teaching results in improved motivation. Nonetheless, this research poses a motivation-related question: Does the use of daily question-and-answer reviews…

Explored the effect of different review opportunities on students' memory awareness and schematization. Findings for 88 college students in phase 1 and 140 in phase 2 show that students are more likely to shift from "remembering" to "learning" if they have the opportunity to review learning material regularly and in different…

The present paper comments on and extends the citation analysis of verbal operant publications based on Skinner's "Verbal Behavior" (1957) by Dymond, O'Hora, Whelan, and O'Donovan (2006). Variations in population parameters were evaluated for only those studies that Dymond et al. categorized as empirical. Preliminary results indicate that the…

Anyone who has ever taught developmental mathematics knows there is a problem in course placement. Some students test well and place clearly above their level, while other students place below their real capability because they either have been away from math for a number of years, or did not prepare for the assessment test. In either case, they…

Interviewed students about their experiences preparing for final university examinations. Analyzed processes of learning used during review, and in particular, the ways in which understanding and memorizing were described. Found that one recurring aspect of the review process involved the creation of "knowledge objects"--tightly structured,…

Investigated the effectiveness of H. Wainer's (1993) strategy for obtaining positively biased ability estimates when examinees can review and change answers on computerized adaptive tests. Results, based on simulation and testing data from 87 college students, show that the Wainer strategy sometimes yields inflated ability estimates and sometimes…

In a course on biological psychology and neuropsychology, study questions were provided that also appeared as test questions in the course exam. This method was introduced to support students in active processing and reproduction of the study texts, and study planning. Data were gathered to test the hypothesis that study question use would be…

The benefit of note taking appeared to be derived from having an opportunity to subsequently review notes, and not from the act of note taking itself. Encoding differences as a function of note taking were minimal, while the external storage function assumed primary importance. (Author/BJG)

Recent advances in technology have made it easy to provide students an outline or some form of notes prior to lectures and for later review. To test the efficacy of instructor-provided notes, 74 students studied lecture material under one of four conditions, in groups of 4 or 5 students. Some listened and took notes as their normal strategy.…

Compared results from computer-adaptive and self-adaptive tests under conditions in which item review was and was not permitted for 379 college students. Results suggest that, when given the opportunity, most examinees will change answers, but usually only to a small portion of items, resulting in some benefit to the test taker. (SLD)