About seventeen years ago, I sorrowfully walked through the doors to my tenth-grade biology class for the first time. The teacher for this particular biology class, Mr. D, was known for giving daily quizzes. As a poor test-taker at the time, I felt certain this course structure would tank my GPA. However, my grade did not suffer. Research regarding encoding procedures and long-term memory provides an explanation.
On the first day of class, Mr. D displayed our daily notes to copy from the overhead projector. Side note: Does anyone remember overhead projectors? In a world of digital everything, they seem akin to a historical artifact now! Mr. D’s notes were foreign to me. They were a combination of information and doodles contained within a map-like drawing – what I later understood to be a concept map.
On the second day of class, Mr. D gave us a quiz on the notes from the first day, followed by new notes that expanded on the information in the concept map. The third day was the same as the second – a quiz on the updated concept map, followed by notes. Each day was identical for the rest of the year, with concept notes continually building and knowledge tested along the way.
Contrary to my initial belief, I was doing relatively well on the quizzes with less studying required than usual. How is it possible that I was studying less but remembering more? Goldstein (2015) describes several encoding procedures that might provide a feasible explanation.
The levels of processing theory proposed by Craik and Lockhart, explains that our memory depends upon how deeply we process information. Deep processing is the focused attention to information – specifically, the meaning and relationship to other items. This level of processing can increase memorability (Goldstein, 2015). The concept maps, which included notes, definitions, and explanations, built on each other to provide a cohesive network of information in my mind – thus leading to my deep processing and easier recall during quizzes.
Bower and Winzenz discovered that subjects more accurately recalled words with an associated mental image, rather than subjects who were instructed to repeat the words. The pairing of mental images with words is called pair-associate learning (Goldstein, 2015). Many of the items in my biology concept map were paired with an associated doodle in order to provide a mental image. When taking the quizzes, I recalled the visual images of the doodles and their accompanying information. In fact, I can still remember a few of those doodles today!
The most compelling explanation, however, is that of the testing effect demonstrated by Roediger and Karpicke. Repeated testing on learned information enhances memory (Goldstein, 2015). The practice of actively trying to remember the information by writing it down from memory or quizzing oneself is retrieval practice (UC San Diego, n.d.). The quiz each day was just as much to test our knowledge as it was to practice retrieving information from our long-term memory.
Overall, Mr. D knew how to get a noisy group of teenagers to retain biological concepts by requiring us to utilize effective encoding procedures and by practicing retrieval! And while I think he enjoyed terrifying his students with quizzes every day, his intentions were upright. We most certainly did not give him enough credit for teaching us how to process information more deeply. Thanks Mr. D!
References
Goldstein, E. B. (2015). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience. Cengage Learning.
UC San Diego. (n.d.). Retrieval Practice. Department of Psychology. https://psychology.ucsd.edu/undergraduate-program/undergraduate-resources/academic-writing-resources/effective-studying/retrieval-practice.html.
Hi Elena! Thanks for your post, I loved learning about your experience in tenth-grade biology class. I found your story of success with testing in biology very similar to my experience taking geometry when I was in eighth grade. My teacher did a similar method of testing where she would give us daily tests called “Feedback Quizzes.” The purpose of these quizzes was to help us identify our weaknesses as we were learning the material, but since they counted towards our final grade, we all studied for them and worried about them like we did normal tests. I think my geometry teacher and your biology teacher both understood the psychology behind memory and learning. Like you said in your blog post, the frequent testing in both our classes caused us to often use retrieval practices to learn the material. Since we were being tested so frequently, we were forced to constantly practice retrieval and generate information, which helped us remember the material better (Goldstein, 2015, p. 186). However, unlike your biology class, in my geometry class our notes were taken in the traditional note-taking style. We didn’t use concept maps or other methods that allowed us to connect with the material and process it at a deeper level. Moreover, since we were in eighth grade, we didn’t think to do this kind of thing on our own, and simply filled in the blanks on our notes sheets. I think that if we had elaborated with the material more, I would have succeeded in remembering the information better, for the exact reasons you outlined in your blog post. I find that concept maps, or other representations of connections within material can be very useful in helping students process information at a deeper level, and subsequently remember it better. It seems there are countless ways educators could implement more strategies to encourage students to practice retrieval more often and process material at a deeper level. Simple things like providing note-taking sheets that encourage students to elaborate upon the information they are learning will help students process information more deeply and subsequently remember it better. I find this is especially important for middle and high school students, who may not have learned effective test taking strategies yet.
Goldstein, E.B. (2015). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday
Experience, 4th Edition. Cengage Learning.