Department of Health and Kinesiology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA, USA.
Adv Physiol Educ. 2013 Jun;37(2):184-91. doi: 10.1152/advan.00174.2012.
Although a great deal of empirical evidence has indicated that retrieval practice is an effective means of promoting learning and memory, very few studies have investigated the strategy in the context of an actual class. The primary purpose of this study was to determine if a series of very brief retrieval quizzes could significantly improve the retention of previously tested information throughout an anatomy and physiology course. A second purpose was to determine if there were any significant differences between expanding and uniform patterns of retrieval that followed a standardized initial retrieval delay. Anatomy and physiology students were assigned to either a control group or groups that were repeatedly prompted to retrieve a subset of previously tested course information via a series of quizzes that were administered on either an expanding or a uniform schedule. Each retrieval group completed a total of 10 retrieval quizzes, and the series of quizzes required (only) a total of 2 h to complete. Final retention of the exam subset material was assessed during the last week of the semester. There were no significant differences between the expanding and uniform retrieval groups, but both retained an average of 41% more of the subset material than did the control group (ANOVA, F = 129.8, P = 0.00, ηp(2) = 0.36). In conclusion, retrieval practice is a highly efficient and effective strategy for enhancing the retention of anatomy and physiology material.
尽管大量的实证研究表明检索练习是促进学习和记忆的有效手段，但很少有研究在实际课堂环境中探讨该策略。本研究的主要目的是确定一系列非常简短的检索测验是否可以显著提高解剖学和生理学课程中之前测试过的信息的保留率。第二个目的是确定在遵循标准化初始检索延迟的扩展和统一检索模式之间是否存在任何显著差异。解剖学和生理学的学生被分配到对照组或实验组，实验组通过一系列测验被反复提示检索之前测试过的课程信息的子集，测验的时间表要么是扩展的，要么是统一的。每个检索组完成总共 10 次检索测验，整个测验系列仅需 2 小时即可完成。在学期的最后一周评估考试子集材料的最终保留情况。扩展和统一检索组之间没有显著差异，但与对照组相比，两者平均保留了 41%以上的子集材料（ANOVA，F = 129.8，P = 0.00，ηp(2) = 0.36）。总之，检索练习是增强解剖学和生理学材料保留率的高效且有效的策略。
