Expecting to Teach Enhances Learning: Evidence From a Motor Learning Paradigm

Abstract

There is some evidence that people learn academic (declarative) information better when studying with the expectation of having to teach, but this has not been demonstrated for perceptual-motor skills, which also rely on declarative information but more heavily on procedural knowledge. To address this possibility, participants studied golf-putting instructions and practiced putting with the expectation of having to teach another participant how to putt or the expectation of being tested on their putting. One day later, learning was assessed by testing all participants on their golf putting. Results revealed that expecting to teach enhanced learning, even after controlling for the amount of studying and practicing. Therefore, we have presented the first findings that expecting to teach enhances motor learning. Taking these findings together with similar studies focusing on declarative information, we suggest that expecting to teach yields a general learning benefit to different types of skills.

Interactivity: A Potential Determinant of Learning by Preparing to Teach and Teaching

“…In academic situations, such as peer tutoring and small group activities, students have a rich opportunity to learn by preparing to teach (or explain) the contents of learning material to others (e.g., tutees, other group members) and teaching others. It is suggested that both preparing to teach and teaching stimulate teacher-role students – namely, students playing the role of tutor or explainer in a learning activity – to process learning material generatively and constructively – for example, selecting, elaborating, and organizing important information from the learning material, integrating newly acquired information with prior knowledge, and reflecting on their own comprehension – and thereby enhance their learning (Annis, 1983; Benware and Deci, 1984; Coleman et al, 1997; van Blankenstein et al, 2011; Fiorella and Mayer, 2013, 2014; Matsuda et al, 2013; Hoogerheide et al, 2014; Nestojko et al, 2014; Daou et al, 2016a; for reviews, see Webb, 1991; Fiorella and Mayer, 2015; Duran, 2017).…”

Does learning a skill with the expectation of teaching it impair the skill’s execution under psychological pressure if the skill is learned with analogy instructions?

“…Specifically, participants will be asked to report, in as much detail as possible, any rules, methods, or techniques they recall using to putt during the high -pressure posttest (see Appendix F ). This type of free recall test is frequently used to assess declarative knowledge in motor skill studies ( Daou, Buchanan et al, 2016 ; Daou, Lohse et al, 2016 ; Daou et al, 2018 ; Maxwell, Masters, & Eves, 2000 ; Maxwell, Masters, Kerr, & Weedon, 2001 ; Zhu, Poolton, Wilson, Maxwell, & Masters, 2011 ).…”

“…However, other studies failed to reveal this effect ( Renkl, 1995 ; Ross & Di Vesta, 1976 ) or demonstrated ambiguous learning effects (enhancements on short-term, but not long-term, test performance; Fiorella & Mayer, 2013 ; Fiorella & Mayer, 2014 ). Daou, Buchanan, Lindsey, Lohse, and Miller (2016) conducted the first investigation into whether expecting to teach enhances learning of motor skills, which rely more heavily on procedural knowledge than academic information does ( Rosenbaum, Carlson, & Gilmore, 2001 ). Daou, Buchanan et al observed having learners practice and study a motor skill with the expectation of teaching it to another person enhanced skill learning in comparison to having learners practice and study a skill with the expectation of being tested, and this effect has been replicated several times ( Daou, Hutchison et al, 2019 ; Daou, Lohse, & Miller, 2016 ; Daou, Lohse, & Miller, 2018 ; Daou, Rhoads, Jacobs, Lohse, & Miller, 2019 ).…”

“…Daou, Buchanan et al observed having learners practice and study a motor skill with the expectation of teaching it to another person enhanced skill learning in comparison to having learners practice and study a skill with the expectation of being tested, and this effect has been replicated several times ( Daou, Hutchison et al, 2019 ; Daou, Lohse, & Miller, 2016 ; Daou, Lohse, & Miller, 2018 ; Daou, Rhoads, Jacobs, Lohse, & Miller, 2019 ). Although research has failed to reveal the mechanisms underlying the learning benefit of expecting to teach, studies have consistently shown that the learning advantage occurs concomitant to large gains in declarative knowledge about the learned skill ( Daou, Buchanan et al, 2016 ; Daou et al, 2018 ; Daou, Hutchison et al, 2019 ; Daou, Lohse et al, 2016 ; Daou, Rhoads et al, 2019 ). As motor skills acquired with large gains in declarative knowledge are highly susceptible to decrement under psychological pressure ( Lam, Maxwell, & Masters, 2009a , 2009b ; Hardy, Mullen, & Jones, 1996 ; Koedijker, Oudejans, & Beek, 2007 ; Liao & Masters, 2001 ; Masters, 1992 ), it was unsurprising that Daou, Hutchison, et al (2019) revealed that the expecting to teach benefit vanished under psychological pressure, due to participants who practiced with the expectation of teaching ‘choking’ in a high-pressure posttest.…”

“…Indeed, Daou, Hutchison et al (2019) asked participants to study an instruction booklet containing a list of rules to follow while practicing the skill, likely prompting learners who expected to teach to attend to the rules so that they could disseminate them to another person; an analogy instruction would reduce this attention to rules. Importantly, it is unlikely that minimizing the accrual of declarative knowledge by learners who expect to teach will reduce their learning advantage, as declarative knowledge has been found to not significantly relate to motor learning in an expecting to teach paradigm ( Daou, Buchanan et al, 2016 ). Even with analogy instructions, it is possible that learners who expect to teach could accrue greater declarative knowledge by engaging in more learning activities, such as discovery learning and hypothesis testing, than those who expect to test.…”