Multiple-choice tests stabilize access to marginal knowledge
Multiple-choice tests stabilize access to marginal knowledge
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DOI：
10.3758/s13421-014-0462-6
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发表时间：
2015-02-01
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Bjork, Elizabeth Ligon
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Cantor, Allison D.;Eslick, Andrea N.;Bjork, Elizabeth Ligon
边缘知识是指存储在记忆中，但在特定时刻无法访问的知识。例如，一个人可能很难记住谁写了《野性的呼唤》，即使这些知识存储在记忆中。了解如何最好地稳定获取边缘知识的途径是重要的，因为新的学习往往需要获取和利用先前的知识。虽然即使是一个机会，重新学习边缘知识提高其后期的可及性（伯杰，霍尔，巴里克，1999年），在许多情况下，明确的再学习机会是不存在的。我们的问题是多项选择测试（根据定义，它使学习者获得正确答案）是否也可以发挥这一功能，如果是这样，测试与重新学习相比如何，因为测试可以是特别强大的学习工具（Roediger & Karpicke，2006）。在四个实验中，我们发现多项选择测试有能力稳定边缘知识的获取，并且至少持续一周。重要的是，这种测试不需要与反馈配对，尽管测试并不比学习更强大。总的来说，研究结果支持了这样一种观点，即一个人的知识基础是不稳定的，单个信息的输入和输出都是不稳定的。目前的研究结果对一个关键的教育挑战有影响：确保学生能够持续获得他们学到的信息。
Marginal knowledge refers to knowledge that is stored in memory, but is not accessible at a given moment. For example, one might struggle to remember who wrote The Call of the Wild, even if that knowledge is stored in memory. Knowing how best to stabilize access to marginal knowledge is important, given that new learning often requires accessing and building on prior knowledge. While even a single opportunity to restudy marginal knowledge boosts its later accessibility (Berger, Hall, & Bahrick, 1999), in many situations explicit relearning opportunities are not available. Our question is whether multiple-choice tests (which by definition expose the learner to the correct answers) can also serve this function and, if so, how testing compares to restudying given that tests can be particularly powerful learning devices (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006). In four experiments, we found that multiple-choice testing had the power to stabilize access to marginal knowledge, and to do so for at least up to a week. Importantly, such tests did not need to be paired with feedback, although testing was no more powerful than studying. Overall, the results support the idea that one's knowledge base is unstable, with individual pieces of information coming in and out of reach. The present findings have implications for a key educational challenge: ensuring that students have continuing access to information they have learned.