Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Centre for Social Sciences, Athabasca University, Athabasca, AB, Canada.
Memory. 2020 Oct;28(9):1105-1122. doi: 10.1080/09658211.2020.1815790. Epub 2020 Sep 14.
In some educational contexts, such as during assessments, it is essential to avoid errors. In other contexts, however, generating an error can foster valuable learning opportunities. For instance, generating errors can improve memory for correct answers. In two surveys conducted at three large public universities in North America, we investigated undergraduate students' and instructors' awareness of the pedagogical benefits of generating errors, as well as related practices, attitudes, and beliefs. Surveyed topics included the incorporation of errors into learning activities, opinions about the consequences of studying errors, and approaches to feedback. Many students had an aversion towards making errors during learning and did not use opportunities to engage in errorful generation, yet studied or analysed errors when they occurred. Many instructors had a welcoming attitude towards errors that occur during learning, yet varied in providing students with resources that facilitate errorful generation. Overall, these findings reveal the prevalence of an ambivalent approach to errors: Students and instructors avoid generating errors but prioritise learning from them when they occur. These results have important implications for the implementation of pretesting, productive failure, and other error-focused learning techniques in educational contexts.
在某些教育情境中，例如在评估期间，避免错误至关重要。然而，在其他情境中，产生错误可以带来有价值的学习机会。例如，产生错误可以提高对正确答案的记忆。在北美三所大型公立大学进行的两项调查中，我们调查了本科生和教师对产生错误的教学益处的认识，以及相关的实践、态度和信念。调查的主题包括将错误纳入学习活动、对学习错误后果的看法以及反馈方法。许多学生在学习过程中对犯错有抵触情绪，不利用犯错的机会，但在错误发生时会学习或分析错误。许多教师对学习过程中出现的错误持欢迎态度，但在为学生提供促进犯错的资源方面存在差异。总的来说，这些发现揭示了对错误的矛盾态度的普遍性：学生和教师避免产生错误，但在错误发生时优先从错误中学习。这些结果对在教育情境中实施预测试、生产性失败和其他以错误为中心的学习技术具有重要意义。
