Long-term memory for knowledge learned in school.

Abstract

Three experiments examined students' long-term retention of knowledge learned in college courses. In Experiment 1 retention was measured 4 and 11 months after the term ended. Students retained a great deal of what they originally learned, and there were no differential forgetting effects as a function of level of original learning. Experiment 2 compared retention for recall test items and 3 types of multiple-choice test items: recognition, comprehension, and mental skills. Students performed poorer on recall items, but there were no differences among the multiple-choice items measuring the other types of tasks. Experiment 3 analyzed retention for student tutors. Tutors retained more after 4 months than the students they tutored. This suggests that tutoring, a type of overlearning, has positive effects that are maintained over time.

Animation-Based Teaching of Semiconductor Devices: Long-Term Improvement in Students’ Achievements in a Two-Year College

“…It is customary to define "retention" as the ability to remember information or skills formerly learned at a later point in time [18]. From this very definition becomes PAPER ANIMATION-BASED TEACHING OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES: LONG-TERM IMPROVEMENT IN STUDENTS'… apparent the great importance of retention in education at large [19] and particularly in engineering education [20] where one of the basic assumptions is that knowledge and skills attained at a given point should serve the student on later stages of learning as well.…”

Long-Term Retention of Knowledge and Critical Thinking Skills in Developmental Biology

“…A few recent studies on long-term knowledge retention have investigated different components of the learning process that may promote learning and retention. Semb et al investigated knowledge retention four and eleven months after students completed a child psychology course (25). Others have investigated knowledge retention after four months associated with the use of clickers in introductory biology and genetics courses (7).…”

“…The ability of students to retain knowledge and skills well after completing a course is becoming increasingly relevant and a focus on deep learning represents a priority for educational research in general (7,9,14,17,(22)(23)(24)(25)32). Given the heightened awareness of deep learning and the relative dearth of long-term retention studies, a study on long-term retention in the biological sciences is warranted.…”

Fluctuations in Student Understanding of Newton’s 3rd Law

“…Pre/post testing fails, however, to reveal the rich dynamism of student learning. Research on forgetting and interference [4,5,6,7] shows that learning is very subtle, and often time-dependent, with even significant gains sometimes short lived. Sayre and Heckler have applied the between-student method [8] to physics classes.…”