Experimental investigation on the effects of study and testing on student learning, retention, and ratings of instruction.

Abstract

ACHIEVEMENT ACADEMIC Summer 1982 Volume 17 Number 4 Aitken, Norman D. College Student . Mormance, Satisfaction and Retention: Speciflcatlon and Estlmatlon of a Structural Model. Journal of Higher Education, 1982.53 (January/ February) pp. 32-50.A four-equation structural model of student satisfaction, performance, and retention for a single institution was applied to data obtained from 892 first-year students who entered the University of Massachusetts in fall 1977. The data included first-year grade-point average (GPA). Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, high school rank, and student responses to a questionnaire on academic, social, and living experiences. Least squares regression analysis revealed that academic performance (actual GPA) was the best predictor of retention in the first equation, followed by satisfaction with th: residential living experience and with the academic experience. Expected academic performance was the most important predictor of academic satisfaction in the second equation. followed by course satisfaction, isolation (negatively related), and satisfaction with major. In the third equation, positive peer group contact was the most important predictor of living satisfaction, followed by satisfaction with roommate and dormitory physical condition and all-women dormitory (negatively related). In equation four, intellectual ability, motivation, and academic skills (measured by high school rank and SAT scores) were the most important predictors of academic performance.-At a large public university, 90 undergraduate students in five educational psychology classes were randomly assigned to one of six groups: study with expected multiple-choice test, study with expected short-answer test, study with test expected but not given, study with no test expected or given, study with unexpected multiple-choice test, and study with unexpected short-answer test. Six weeks after the two-week study, all of the students completed the two experimental short-answer and multiple-choice tests and evaluated their instructors.

Pharmacy Mentors' Views of Practical Training

“…Assessment can also enhance students' learning (Halpin & Halpin, 1982). This study showed that there is a need to pay more attention to how students are assessed during practical training and how they receive feedback.…”

Knowledge Taught in School: What Is Remembered?

“…Knowledge retention is typically measured by performance on paper-andpencil tests (Halpin & Halpin, 1982). The standard procedure is to administer a test to determine what is learned and then, at a later point in time, to administer a test to determine what has been retained (Runquist, 1983).…”

“…This can be done in several ways. One is to give an end-of-term exam and then to later readminister it or questions selected from it (Glasnapp, Poggio, & Ory, 1978;Halpin & Halpin, 1982). To avoid possible testing effects, some researchers create a retention test covering the same material but with different questions (Breland & Smith, 1974;Robin & Graham, 1974;Runquist, 1983;Semb, Ellis, & Araujo, 1993).…”

Training Procedures for Enhancing Reserve Component Learning, Retention, and Transfer

“…Schmidt (1983), for example, found that trainees remember information in greater detail when they expect to be tested via recall as opposed to recognition. Test expectation frollowed by actual testing, however, still produces the best retention, even though trainees seem to prefer test-free training (Halpin & Halpin, 1982).…”