The Secret of Learning: Stop Studying and Start Taking Tests

Alex

Hate taking tests? Too bad! A study has shown that to really learn, you should stop studying and start taking tests:

Taking a test is not just a passive mechanism for assessing how much people know, according to new research. It actually helps people learn, and it works better than a number of other studying techniques.

The research, published online Thursday in the journal Science, found that students who read a passage, then took a test asking them to recall what they had read, retained about 50 percent more of the information a week later than students who used two other methods.

One of those methods — repeatedly studying the material — is familiar to legions of students who cram before exams. The other — having students draw detailed diagrams documenting what they are learning — is prized by many teachers because it forces students to make connections among facts.

These other methods not only are popular, the researchers reported; they also seem to give students the illusion that they know material better than they do.

Pam Belluck of The New York Times has the full report: Link


Comments (4)

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Newest 4 Comments

This article is very interesting. Don't you think that by just taking a test about material we just learned we are not making connections to different subjects?
Do you think there is any biological influence to how well we learn or do you think that our learning is culturally influenced?
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So, how did the researchers figure out what worked best? Give them a test? This study only says that practice taking tests makes one better at taking tests.
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Yeah, I'd add a hand crank to that retrieving the kite thing. It wouldn't be that hard, so then you could repeat the process over and over. Just add cheap labor, or in the case of post-apocalypse, the young, and generate away! :)
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Again, in post-apoc world, you don't want to draw attention to yourself, plus there's the potential for mobility with this design. May have to break camp and head to the mountains.
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I'm having trouble grasping how this is an improvemenet over a windmill. I suppose you could let the kite out, have it collapse, and then have a wind-powered device to reel it back in; but then why not just use the wind-driven device to generate all the energy in the first place?
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The advantage is that they fly "to altitudes of 2,600 feet, where wind streams are four times as strong as they are near ground-based wind turbines."
The kite collapses when it reaches the end of its tether, so it is easier to rewind.
What happens when the wind stops and the huge kite crashes at the end of a half mile tether?
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A 'laddermill' would even be better: it is fully wind driven (so yes, it's a modern version of the windmill. Only much bigger and much more energy efficient.

http://www.lr.tudelft.nl/live/pagina.jsp?id=8d16d19a-e942-45aa-9b52-48deb9312e92
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