Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

4894

Date

2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Psychology

Concentration

Experimental Psychology

Committee Chair

Philip Pavlik Jr

Committee Member

Roger Kreuz

Committee Member

Jason Braasch

Committee Member

Mark Conley

Abstract

Although lectures are a common method of teaching within higher education, critics argue that this traditional style of teaching encourages a passive approach to learning where students are not actively involved during the learning process. Prior reserach conducted in classroom settings suggests that clicker quizzes may encourage more student involvement and increase exam scores (Roschelle, Penuel, & Abrahamson, 2004). While the use of clicker quizzes during a lecture seems promising to promote more active learning, perhaps the greatest benefit of quizzing during a lecture is that it provides students with the opportunity to practice retrieval of what they learn, which may improve long-term retention (e.g., McDaniel, Roediger, & McDermott, 2007). The current study examined the effects of inserting quizzes during various segments of a lecture. A pre-recorded lecture was divided into three segments of equal lengths. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the following experimental conditions: (1) - quizzing after each segment; (2) quizzing only after the first segment; (3) quizzing only after the last segment; (4) no quizzing during the lecture. After a one-week retention interval, participants completed a final cumulative test. The results indicated that the interspersed condition significantly outperformed the beginning, end, and no quizzing conditions on the final test. This was especially the case among those with high test anxiety. Results also indicated that the interspersed condition reported significantly less episodes of mind wandering relative to the other conditions, and participants in the interspersed condition recorded significantly more notes.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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