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pkang0202
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
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 Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 8:18 pm Post subject: Taking a Test is the best way to study |
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/science/21memory.html?_r=1
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students who read a passage, then took a test asking them to recall what they had read, retained about 50 percent more of the information a week later than students who used two other methods.
One of those methods � repeatedly studying the material � is familiar to legions of students who cram before exams. The other � having students draw detailed diagrams documenting what they are learning � is prized by many teachers because it forces students to make connections among facts.
These other methods not only are popular, the researchers reported; they also seem to give students the illusion that they know material better than they do. |
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Howard Gardner, an education professor at Harvard who advocates constructivism � the idea that children should discover their own approach to learning, emphasizing reasoning over memorization � said in an e-mail that the results �throw down the gauntlet to those progressive educators, myself included.�
�Educators who embrace seemingly more active approaches, like concept mapping,� he continued, �are challenged to devise outcome measures that can demonstrate the superiority of such constructivist approaches.�
Testing, of course, is a highly charged issue in education, drawing criticism that too much promotes rote learning, swallows valuable time for learning new things and causes excessive student anxiety. |
How will this study impact learning? This study is pretty much a slap in the face to progressive educators. It seems they will have a hard time selling their books/lectures/ideas now. |
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comm
Joined: 22 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 1:20 am Post subject: Re: Taking a Test is the best way to study |
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| pkang0202 wrote: |
How will this study impact learning? This study is pretty much a slap in the face to progressive educators. It seems they will have a hard time selling their books/lectures/ideas now. |
That article was a bit more skewed than the one I read. If you look closely, the study gave the participants what they called a "retrieval practice test" which was actually a "free form essay" that they spent 10 minutes on.
When people look at this article and see the word test everywhere, I suspect they wont be thinking about free form essay tests. In fact, it's silly to call a "free form essay" any more of a test than you would call a "concept map".
I definitely back the findings, but it's being presented in a very biased way, probably to get more people clicking the link about "testing". |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 1:32 am Post subject: Re: Taking a Test is the best way to study |
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| comm wrote: |
| When people look at this article and see the word test everywhere, I suspect they wont be thinking about free form essay tests. |
Why would you say this? When I was in school almost every test involved part multiple-choice and part essay/written. |
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comm
Joined: 22 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 7:47 am Post subject: Re: Taking a Test is the best way to study |
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| jvalmer wrote: |
Why would you say this? When I was in school almost every test involved part multiple-choice and part essay/written. |
Unfortunately none of the articles I've read give the details, but when they say it was a "free form essay" on the topic, I get the impression that it was a loose writing assignment rather than a written test.
Or maybe I'm just thinking of Korean tests more... it seems that "free form essay" is about as far as you get from what my students have to take. My point is that it would make much more sense to say "writing an essay is the best way to study", but it was purposefully distorted in this particular article for dramatic effect. |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 8:14 am Post subject: Re: Taking a Test is the best way to study |
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| jvalmer wrote: |
| comm wrote: |
| When people look at this article and see the word test everywhere, I suspect they wont be thinking about free form essay tests. |
Why would you say this? When I was in school almost every test involved part multiple-choice and part essay/written. |
Because in a study like this, it seems like it would be easiest to have a multiple-choice test. Free form essays would be more time consuming and harder to evaluate.
That and what comm said. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 1:39 pm Post subject: |
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| Students who read a passage, then took a test asking them to recall what they had read, retained about 50 percent more of the information a week later than students who used two other methods |
If education boils down purely and simply to the retention of information, then by all means test all the time. If education means more than that, then testing will remain only one method of evaluation. |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 3:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Kuros wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Students who read a passage, then took a test asking them to recall what they had read, retained about 50 percent more of the information a week later than students who used two other methods |
If education boils down purely and simply to the retention of information, then by all means test all the time. If education means more than that, then testing will remain only one method of evaluation. |
This goes back to what is the role of public education? Is it simply to ensure that kids know how to read, write, do math, and know their history? Or is it a place for social education and to teach aesthetics and "how" to think?
Frankly, I'm more than a little concerned at the trend in US education to emphasize social behaviors and "how" to think. To me these should be the responsibility of the parent. Often this is all done to the MAJOR EDIT- expense of developing basic math and reading skills and at the knowledge of history. The staggering ignorance of kids these days means that even if they are great socially and are critical thinkers (how this can be done without the fundamentals is beyond me) their judgments just cannot be trusted due to lacking that base.
Last edited by Steelrails on Wed Jan 26, 2011 3:07 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 7:16 am Post subject: |
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| Steelrails wrote: |
| Frankly, I'm more than a little concerned at the trend in US education to emphasize social behaviors and "how" to think. To me these should be the responsibility of the parent. Often this is all done to the emphasis of developing basic math and reading skills and at the knowledge of history. The staggering ignorance of kids these days means that even if they are great socially and are critical thinkers (how this can be done without the fundamentals is beyond me) their judgments just cannot be trusted due to lacking that base. |
These children will grow up to vote, serve on juries, and perhaps run for office. How can a democracy prosper without a public education that prepares children for the civil and public tasks they'll have to accomplish later in life? |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Kuros wrote: |
| Steelrails wrote: |
| Frankly, I'm more than a little concerned at the trend in US education to emphasize social behaviors and "how" to think. To me these should be the responsibility of the parent. Often this is all done to the emphasis of developing basic math and reading skills and at the knowledge of history. The staggering ignorance of kids these days means that even if they are great socially and are critical thinkers (how this can be done without the fundamentals is beyond me) their judgments just cannot be trusted due to lacking that base. |
These children will grow up to vote, serve on juries, and perhaps run for office. How can the Fatherland prosper without a public education that prepares children for the civil and public tasks they'll have to accomplish later in life? |
Extreme example, but this is something to consider.
A system that relies on the state to educate their children, in which said education system also serves to mold how they think, is not the system of a democracy.
Countries that rely on the state to turn the citizens into good citizens are not individual freedom loving democracies. That doesn't mean they are bad governments or that even such state education isn't a good idea. But we must be careful. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 3:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Steelrails wrote: |
| Kuros wrote: |
| Steelrails wrote: |
| Frankly, I'm more than a little concerned at the trend in US education to emphasize social behaviors and "how" to think. To me these should be the responsibility of the parent. Often this is all done to the emphasis of developing basic math and reading skills and at the knowledge of history. The staggering ignorance of kids these days means that even if they are great socially and are critical thinkers (how this can be done without the fundamentals is beyond me) their judgments just cannot be trusted due to lacking that base. |
These children will grow up to vote, serve on juries, and perhaps run for office. How can the Fatherland prosper without a public education that prepares children for the civil and public tasks they'll have to accomplish later in life? |
Extreme example, but this is something to consider.
A system that relies on the state to educate their children, in which said education system also serves to mold how they think, is not the system of a democracy.
Countries that rely on the state to turn the citizens into good citizens are not individual freedom loving democracies. That doesn't mean they are bad governments or that even such state education isn't a good idea. But we must be careful. |
I agree that's true. And I'm not saying that parents shouldn't nor needn't educate their children. But a functioning democracy requires public education.
In the United States we are very conscious of the problems you pose. That is why we have decentralized education, and the majority of the funding occurs at the state level (in New England at local level) and much of the decision-making at the local level (with state standards). |
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