Does automated reassessment and relearning improve mathematics performance better than computer adaptive practice alone?

Abstract

Scholarly interest about how students learn and retain learned skills is vast. Cognitive psychologists have recommended various techniques used to increase retention. One technique, spaced retrieval practice, involves extending opportunities to retrieve course content beyond a customarily short window following the initial learning process. Our preregistered counterbalanced randomized controlled trial took place at a public urban secondary school in the north-eastern region of the United States. It investigated whether an online tutor with an Automated Reassessment and Relearning System (ARRS) improves retention for individual students across specific mathematical skills. While our findings revealed a null result, in part due to the small number of participants, we feel this experimental design could be used in future studies with more favourable results. Additionally, we are confident that ARRS could be used to support low prior knowledge students and Students With Interrupted or Limited Formal Education (SLIFE), a growing population in schools that is often overlooked in academic research.