Hi
On Thu, 5 Oct 2000, Dennis Goff wrote:
> Marc Turner wrote:
> "I'm wondering if there have been any studies that have looked at (or simply
> asked) whether students study with short-term or long-term retention in
> mind.
>
> What appears to be happening here is that students study enough to get the
> material into memory long enough for the test, then they forget it. The
> only difference between a test during the semester and a comprehensive
> final is the amount of material they have to study for the next day. (Also,
> they pick up the material for the final faster than for the regular tests
> because of prior exposure.)"
One area of research that is somewhat related is block scheduling
in schools. As I understand it, block scheduling involves more
intensive study of fewer subjects over a term. There is some
research I believe showing that students with block schedules
retain the information less well over the long term than with
regular scheduling, although they might do as well or even better
on immediate evaluations. This would be like a distributed
practice effect. It is also my very subjective impression that
students who take elementary statistics in a condensed format in
the summer may remember the information less well in a later
course. So logically, theoretically, and (with a bit of a
stretch) empirically, it does appear that final exams should
help with long-term retention of the material.
Best wishes
Jim
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James M. Clark (204) 786-9757
Department of Psychology (204) 774-4134 Fax
University of Winnipeg 4L05D
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
CANADA http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark
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