Abstract
The present field study compared open-book testing and closed-book testing in two (parallel) introductory university courses in cognitive psychology. The critical manipulation concerned seven lessons. In these lessons, all students received two to three questions concerning the content of the respective lesson. Half the participants (open-book group) were allowed to use their notes and the course materials, which had been distributed at the beginning of each class; the other half was not allowed to use these materials (closed-book group). A surprise test conducted in the eighth week demonstrated better results for the closed-book group. Further 6 weeks later, the final module exam took place. A number of questions in this exam concerned the learning matters instructed during the critical seven lessons. Even with respect to these questions, the closed-book group performed better than the open-book group. We discuss these results with respect to two possible explanations, retrieval practice and motivational differences.
Highlights
The testing effect is one of the most prominent instances of difficulties during learning, being desirable for long-term learning (Bjork, 1994; Roediger and Karpicke, 2006)
Many studies concerned with the testing effect follow a typical procedure: First, participants are presented with the learning material, regularly a brief science text
We address this question in a naturalistic learning setting in two introductory cognitive psychology courses and over a learning phase spanning 7 weeks
Summary
The testing effect is one of the most prominent instances of difficulties during learning, being desirable for long-term learning (Bjork, 1994; Roediger and Karpicke, 2006). Effects of retrieval practice were demonstrated with different learning materials (e.g., vocabularies, texts, multimedia materials) as well as in different contexts (laboratory, school classes, university classes, etc.; see Dunlosky et al, 2013). Many (laboratory) studies concerned with the testing effect follow a typical procedure: First, participants are presented with the learning material, regularly a brief science text. This text has to be learned under two different conditions: In the control condition, participants are instructed to read the text several times; in the critical testing condition, they have to read the text once and recall its content
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