Examining the Effects of Retrieval Practice and Spacing on Engineering Students' Retention of Precalculus Knowledge

增加和多样化获得STEM学位的本科生数量的必要性和好处是众所周知的。不幸的是，数学知识的保留不足，使许多学生无法获得工程学位。 认知心理学的研究表明，教育实践会导致记忆力差，因为教育实践会最大限度地减少：1）学生检索他们所获得的信息的次数（即，检索实践），以及2）检索之间经过的时间量（即，间距）。 作为个体因素，增加检索练习的频率和间隔是提高保留率的有效干预措施。 该项目将调查两种干预措施的独立和叠加效应，以揭示一种干预措施是否比另一种更有效，以及干预措施的组合是否优于单独的任何一种。 该研究将在实际的大学课堂上进行，扩展了以前在实验室环境中进行的研究，并将直接为旨在帮助学生保留必要的数学知识并在工程中取得成功的教育方法提供信息。更具体地说，该项目旨在评估增加检索练习的数量和间隔的影响，作为单独的因素和组合，短期和长期保留微积分前的知识。 测验问题的数量和时间间隔将有所不同，以跟踪和针对具体的学习目标，在一个预先计算课程的工程师。 短期保留的措施将被收集，以深入了解学生的表现对目标特定的问题上的期末考试在预微积分课程，和长期保留的措施将被收集从考试管理的科目谁提前到随后的微积分课程的子集。 结果将告知工程和其他STEM教育工作者应该如何实施认知心理学的技术，以增加核心知识的保留。 更有效的教育实践可以减少从STEM领域转学的学生人数。

The need and benefits of increasing and diversifying the number of undergraduates obtaining STEM degrees is well-known. Unfortunately, inadequate retention of mathematics knowledge prevents many students from obtaining engineering degrees. Research in cognitive psychology suggests poor retention results from educational practices that minimize: 1) the number of times students retrieve information they have acquired (i.e., retrieval practice), and 2) the amount of elapsed time between retrievals (i.e., spacing). Increases in the frequency and spacing of retrieval practice, as individual factors, are known to be effective interventions for increasing retention. This project will investigate the independent and additive effects of the two interventions to reveal whether one is more efficacious than the other, and whether the combination of interventions is better than either one alone. The research will be conducted in an actual college classroom, extending the previous research conducted in a laboratory setting, and will directly inform educational approaches that aim at helping students retain requisite mathematics knowledge and succeed in engineering.More specifically, this project aims to assess the impact of increasing the amount and spacing of retrieval practice, as separate factors and in combination, on short- and long-term retention of precalculus knowledge. The number and temporal spacing of quiz questions will be varied in order to track and target specific learning objectives in a precalculus course for engineers. Measures of short-term retention will be collected to gain insight into students' performance on objective-specific questions on the final exam in the precalculus course, and measures of long-term retention will be collected from an exam administered to the subset of subjects who advance into a subsequent calculus course. Results will inform how engineering and other STEM educators should implement techniques from cognitive psychology to increase retention of core knowledge. More effective educational practices could reduce the number of students transferring out of STEM fields.