Online and Clicker Quizzing on Jargon Terms Enhances Definition-Focused but Not Conceptually Focused Biology Exam Performance

Revisiting Clickers: In-Class Questions Followed by At-Home Reflections Are Associated with Higher Student Performance on Related Exam Questions

Clicker questions are a commonly used active learning technique that stimulates student interactions to help advance understanding of key concepts. Clicker questions are often administered with an initial vote, peer discussion, and a second vote, followed by broader classroom explanation. While clickers can promote learning, some studies have questioned whether students maintain this performance on later exams, highlighting the need to further understand how student answer patterns relate to their understanding of the material and to identify ways for clickers to benefit a broader range of students. Systematic requizzing of concepts during at-home assignments represents a promising mechanism to improve student learning. Thus, we paired clicker questions with at-home follow-up reflections to help students articulate and synthesize their understandings. This pairing of clickers with homework allowed us to decipher how student answer patterns related to their underlying conceptions and to determine if revisiting concepts provided additional benefits. We found that students answering both clicker votes correctly performed better on isomorphic exam questions and that students who corrected their answers after the first vote did not show better homework or exam performance than students who maintained an incorrect answer across both votes. Furthermore, completing the follow-up homework assignment modestly boosted exam question performance. Our data suggest that longer-term benefits of clickers and associated homework may stem from students having repeated opportunities to retrieve, refine, and reinforce emerging conceptions.

Blended learning in a biology classroom: Pre-pandemic insights for post-pandemic instructional strategies

It is increasingly important to utilize novel approaches to improve student learning. This has become especially relevant throughout the COVID‐19 pandemic. Previous studies have shown positive outcomes of blended learning on student satisfaction. Yet, there are limited data in the field of biology on how blended learning practices correlate with overall student performance. Moreover, there is a dearth of information on student perceptions about how blended learning has impacted their education. Through this study, we present insights on the impact of blended learning in a first‐year cell and molecular biology course. Using mixed‐methods research, we evaluated the impact of a blended learning course format on student performance in the learning categories of knowledge and understanding, communication and application, and critical thinking and inquiry. Using a pre‐ vs. postintervention analysis, we show that a blended learning course model does not change students’ performance on multiple‐choice and short answer assessments when compared to a nonblended learning course model. Through a qualitative assessment of student perceptions and sentiments, however, the implemented blended learning approach does appear to provide significant perceived benefits, including learner flexibility, consolidation of content, and the opportunity to apply course content to the ‘real world’. While we recognize that our report describes a very specific blended learning model, we believe that our findings are generalizable to similar introductory courses. As such, we are confident that our case study will provide course designers with a useful foundation to build future blended learning courses.

How do college students use digital flashcards during self-regulated learning?

Over the past two decades, digital flashcards - that is, computer programmes, smartphone apps, and online services that mimic, and potentially improve upon, the capabilities of traditional paper flashcards - have grown in variety and popularity. Many digital flashcard platforms allow learners to make or use flashcards from a variety of sources and customise the way in which flashcards are used. Yet relatively little is known about why and how students actually use digital flashcards during self-regulated learning, and whether such uses are supported by research from the science of learning. To address these questions, we conducted a large survey of undergraduate students (n = 901) at a major U.S. university. The survey revealed insights into the popularity, acquisition, and usage of digital flashcards, beliefs about how digital flashcards are to be used during self-regulated learning, and differences in uses of paper versus digital flashcards, all of which have implications for the optimisation of student learning. Overall, our results suggest that college students commonly use digital flashcards in a manner that only partially reflects evidence-based learning principles, and as such, the pedagogical potential of digital flashcards remains to be fully realised.

Optimising word learning in post-secondary students with Developmental Language Disorder: The roles of retrieval difficulty and retrieval success during training

PURPOSE

Learning words to the level that they can be readily retrieved and produced can be challenging. The primary aim of the current study is to determine how retrieval difficulty, based on the level of cuing provided, and retrieval success during training relate to the phonological precision with which words are produced after a delay.

METHOD

We performed additional analyses on data from McGregor, Gordon, Eden, Arbisi-Kelm, & Oleson, (Encoding deficits impede word learning and memory in adults with Developmental Language Disorders. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 60, 2891-2905) in which post-secondary students with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD, n = 23) and typical development (n = 25) were trained on words via free and cued recall practice and tested 24-h later.

RESULTS

Training via free recall led to more precise productions after the delay than training via cued recall for both groups. Additionally, the number of successful retrievals during training positively predicted retrieval after the delay. Furthermore, the precision of participants' last production and worst production of each word were the best predictors of production precision after the delay.

CONCLUSION

To optimally support encoding and delayed retrieval, students with and without DLD should utilise free recall practice. Additionally, words should be studied until they are successfully retrieved multiple times at a high level of phonological precision to support delayed retrieval.

Does Spelling Still Matter—and If So, How Should It Be Taught? Perspectives from Contemporary and Historical Research

A century ago, spelling skills were highly valued and widely taught in schools using traditional methods, such as weekly lists, drill exercises, and low- and high-stakes spelling tests. That approach was featured in best-selling textbooks such as the Horn-Ashbaugh Speller of 1920. In the early 21st century, however, skepticism as to the importance of spelling has grown, some schools have deemphasized or abandoned spelling instruction altogether, and there has been a proliferation of non-traditional approaches to teaching spelling. These trends invite a reevaluation of the role of spelling in modern English-speaking societies and whether the subject should be explicitly taught (and if so, what are research-supported methods for doing so). In this article, we examine the literature to address whether spelling skills are still important enough to be taught, summarize relevant evidence, and argue that a comparison of common approaches to spelling instruction in the early 20th century versus more recent approaches provides some valuable insights. We also discuss the value of explicit spelling instruction and highlight potentially effective ways to implement such instruction, including the use of spelling tests. Overall, our goals are to better characterize the role of spelling skills in today’s society and to identify several pedagogical approaches—some derived from traditional methods and others that are more recent—that hold promise for developing such skills in efficient and effective ways.

Testing Effect on High-Level Cognitive Skills

The testing effect is one of the strongest learning techniques documented to date. Although the effects of testing on high-level learning are promising, fewer studies on this have been done. In this classroom application of the testing effect, we aimed to 1) determine whether a testing effect exists on high-level testing; 2) determine whether higher-level testing has an effect on low-level content retention; and 3) determine whether content knowledge, cognitive skill, or additional components are responsible for this effect. Through a series of two experiments, we confirmed a testing effect on high-level items. However, improved content retention due to testing was not observed. We suggest that this high-level testing effect is due to a better ability to apply specific skills to specific content when this application process has appeared on a previous exam.