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The influence of early questions on learning from text

Fritz, C. O., Morris, P. E., Crowther, V.-L. and Benn, N. (2014) The influence of early questions on learning from text. Poster presented to: 55th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Long Beach, California, 2014-11-21.

Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Poster)
Abstract: In this research we explored the use of short-answer questions to improve learning from chapter-like texts (3395 words). Experiment 1 investigated the influence of pre-questions on recall from a text passage when tested a week later; two question sets were counterbalanced within the experimental group. Participants with pre-questions scored higher both overall (d = 3.6, 95%CI [2.4, 4.8]) and on novel questions (d = 2.0 [1.6, 2.4]). In Experiment 2, questions were made available immediately after studying the text either alongside the text, open-book, or closed-book with the opportunity to check answers, or not at all with additional study time. Learning was tested after a week. Although the immediate test scores were substantially higher for open- than closed-book tests, week-delayed performance on the same items was much worse for open-book tests and was moderately improved for closed-book tests. For seen questions, closed-book tests led to better delayed recall than did open-book tests, d = 0.7 [0.02, 1.5]. For novel questions, observed differences were small; ds = .2 [-0.6, 0.9] for both comparisons.
Uncontrolled Keywords: Learning from text, memory, test practice, advance organizer, pre-test, open-book test, closed-book test
Creators: Fritz, Catherine O, Morris, Peter E, Crowther, Vikki-Leigh and Benn, Nichola
Faculties, Divisions and Institutes: Faculties > Faculty of Health & Society > Psychology
Date: 21 November 2014
Date Type: Publication
Journal or Publication Title: 55th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society
Event Title: 55th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society
Event Dates: 2014-11-21
Event Location: Long Beach, California
Event Type: Other
Language: English
Status: Published / Disseminated
Refereed: Yes
URI: http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/11393

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