A Classroom Study on the Relationship Between Student Achievement and Retrieval-Enhanced Learning

• Published in: Educational psychology review 2016-06, Vol.28 (2), p.353-375
• Main Authors: Carpenter, Shana K., Lund, Terry J. S., Coffman, Clark R., Armstrong, Patrick I., Lamm, Monica H., Reason, Robert D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Biology; Calibration; Child and School Psychology; Class Activities; Cognition; Education; Educational Environment; Educational Psychology; Essay; ESSAYS; Experimental psychology; Feedback (Response); Individual Differences; Information Retrieval; Introductory Courses; Junior high school students; Large Group Instruction; Learning; Learning and Instruction; Learning laboratories; Learning Processes; Memory; Memory recall; Metacognition; Methods; Oocytes; Outcomes of Education; Ova; Prediction; Self Evaluation (Individuals); Students; Tests; Undergraduate Students
• ISSN: 1040-726X; 1573-336X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10648-015-9311-9

Retrieval practice has been shown to produce powerful learning gains in laboratory experiments but has seldom been explored in classrooms as a means of enhancing students' learning of their course-relevant material. Furthermore, research is lacking concerning the role of individual differences in learning from retrieval. The current study explored the effects of retrieval in a large undergraduate introductory biology course as a function of individual differences in student achievement. Students completed in-class exercises that required them to retrieve course information (e.g., recalling definitions for terms and labeling diagrams) followed by feedback or to simply copy the information without retrieving it. A later quiz over the information showed that high-performing students benefited more from retrieving than copying, whereas middle- and low-performing students benefited more from copying than retrieving. When asked to predict their quiz scores following the in-class exercises, high-performers demonstrated better overall metacognitive calibration compared to middle- or low-performers. These results highlight the importance of individual differences in learning from retrieval and encourage future research using course-relevant material to consider the role of student achievement in classroom-based interventions.