How to Learn More While Studying

Less

Dr. Cynthia FadlerAssistant Professor of Psychology

Sibley Day 2014

Some frequent answers

Rereading Cramming Flash cards

How do you use them? Highlighting

How do you study?

What doesn’t work

For each technique: Relevant background research Why it doesn’t work

What does work For each technique:

Relevant background research Why it works How to use it both in and out of the classroom

Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan, & Willingham (2013), PSPI

Outline of today’s talk

What doesn’t work

Summarizing

Reading a text and writing a summary in your

own words Enhances gist understanding of the text

Summarizing

Undergraduates read Web units Two groups:

Just read Summarize as if explaining to a friend

Multiple choice, short answer, application

Bednall & Kehoe, 2011

Summarizing

Why it doesn’t work:

Summarization means a lot of different things Quality of summary matters The type of material that is being summarized

is an important factor

Summarizing

Highlighting

Somehow indicating the important information

in text

Highlighting

Start of study Two weeks Two months1. Read chapter Study ch. Test2. Highlight chapter Study blank ch. Test3. Highlight chapter Study highlighted ch. Test

All groups equal on fact-based questions Highlight group worst on conceptual questions

Peterson, 1992

Highlighting

Why it doesn’t work

A lot of variability in type of highlighting More highlighting does not mean more

retention

Bad for application

Highlighting

Rereading

Repeatedly reading the textbook, powerpoint

slides, or notes

Rereading

Undergraduates read short passage 0, 1, 2, or

4 times After 10-min delay, filled in missing words

from passage

Rothkopf, 1968

Rereading

Why it doesn’t work

Ok, it does…. but not as well as other things you could do with

your time. Appears to be a qualitative, not quantitative

improvement Better with spaced than massed rereading

Rereading

What does work

Elaboration

Answering, “Why?” for specific facts and

concepts.

E.g. To-be-learned fact: Correlation does not equal

causation Why?: There could be a third extraneous

variable that explains the relationship.

Elaboration

Undergraduates read sentences such as:

“The hungry man got into the car”

3 groups: Why did he do that? What did he do next? Just read.

Final test Why: ~72% Other two groups: ~37%

Pressley, McDaniel, Turnure, Wood, & Ahmad, 1987

Elaboration

Why does it work?

Supports integration of new knowledge with prior knowledge

Supports organization of new information

Elaboration

Students

Ask, “Why?” Think of how new facts are related to things you

already know Instructors

Encourage this behavior by creating “connection papers” or discussion topics

Ask questions on exams that relate new concepts with earlier concepts in the course

Caveat Only works if prior knowledge exists!

Elaboration

Testing

Taking practice tests or self-testing; flashcards NOT summative assessments

Testing

Undergraduates read two passages

After one, “read again” After the other, “recall as much as you can”

After a delay, try to recall as much as possible 5 min, 2 days, or 1 week

Roediger & Karpicke, 2006

Testing

Roediger & Karpicke, 2006

Why it works

Direct effects Strengthen connection between question and

answer Activate related information Better organization

Mediated effects Metacognition

Testing

Students:

Take advantage of the practice tests at the end of textbook chapters

Create flashcards But don’t throw out the ones you get right!

Instructors Use low-stakes quizzes in the classroom Ask lots of open-ended questions during lecture

But require answers! Give early feedback

Testing

Interleaving

Using different types of studying (e.g. re-

reading, testing, etc.) and studying different materials (e.g. multiple chapters) in a single study session

Interleaving

Undergraduates learned to compute volumes of solids

Group 1: Read S1, Problems S1, Read S2, Problems S2… Group 2: Read all solids, Complete all problems in

random order Feedback after each problem

Test 1 week later

Rohrer & Taylor, 2007

Interleaving

Interleaving

Why it works

Practicing at identifying when to use what Promotes organization and item-specific

processing Comparison of different types of items

Retrieval practice

Interleaving

Students

Make comparisons between similar items Jump around when doing practice problems Shuffle flashcards

Instructors Ask compare/contrast questions Do not categorize homework assignments Ask questions over entire lecture, not just as

you go along

Interleaving

Spacing

Spreading out study activities over time

Spacing

Undergraduates were presented with Spanish-

English translations Quizzed w/feedback at different intervals

0 days 1 day 30 days

5 total quizzes Returned 30 days after last quiz for a final test

Bahrick, 1979

Spacing

Spacing

Why it works

Lots of theories; lots of potential mechanisms

Ease of retrieval or understanding leads to lazy learning

Spacing

Students

DON’T CRAM!!! “Successful” cramming = mix it up

Instructors Assignments throughout sections of the course “Comprehensive” exams

Spacing

Science says…

What works

Elaboration* Interleaving* Spacing Testing

What doesn’t

Summarizing Highlighting Rereading

*Not yet definitive

Stop highlighting Study throughout the semester During each episode:

Mix things up Test yourself

Keep flashcards in rotation even when correct If you’re going to cram:

Take breaks Get a good night’s sleep!

Ideal studying

Take a class:

PSY330: Learning and Memory

Email: cfadler@lindenwood.edu

Look it up: Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K.A., Marsh, E.J., Nathan, M.J, &

Willingham, D.T. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14, 4-58.

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