From Cognitive Daily’s “Does test-taking help students learn?”
Practice tests need not duplicate the format of the final test. Instead, practice tests should require as much effort as possible from the test taker. If the goal is long-term retention, final tests should also be in a free-recall format rather than, say, choosing from a list of possible answers.
If this is true, and holds up under long-term studies, then it’s another powerful argument against the typical multiple-choice standardized test.
Of course, memorizing lists of words is about as far from “learning” as you can get and still be on the same continent. Interesting study nonetheless.
Thu, Jan 3, 2008
Education