Integrating Spaced Repetition and Required Metacognitive Self-Assessment in a Contracts Course

Abstract

This article provides an example for doctrinal law professors to integrate metacognitive exercises into their courses in order to increase student retention and understanding of the material as well as improve exam test-taking skills. Teaching metacognition is traditionally the domain of law school ASP departments. However, when ASP methods are supplemented with required exercises in a doctrinal course, student performance can improve measurably. I should note at the outset that the results I discuss in this article should be considered anecdotal and not the results of a planned empirical study with controls. When I started requiring these exercises, I never intended to write an article or publish the results. I was only trying to improve my students’ understanding of the doctrine and test-taking ability. However, I found the results intriguing enough to draft this article reporting the improvement. By introducing required practice exams and graded metacognitive self-assessment exercises into a two semester contracts course from 2018 to 2019, I initially observed 9-13% improvement in overall multiple-choice performance for a particular semester’s exam (fall or spring). Students not only improved their understanding of the law, they also developed better multiple choice test taking skills. When the practice exams and self-assessment exercises were made optional, student performance dropped back to historic means. In a 2021 study at another law school using a slightly different approach, I observed a dramatic improvement in the spring semester for poor performing students. Students who scored 50% or lower on the fall multiple choice test improved their scores 33% on average. Students who scored 35% or lower on the Fall test raised their scores in the spring by 88%. This article first briefly describes three cognitive science concepts – spaced repetition, the testing effect, and metacognition self-evaluation exercises. It then describes the mechanics of the metacognition exercise that I deployed and the results that I observed.