Students Learning Abilities - Essay Example

Preparing for a test over one week compared to one day, in a subject of interest to the student: An experimental study Abstract Although students are advised to study for tests over a period of time and discouraged from ‘cramming’ in the final period before a test, the practice remains popular. Research done on this subject involved recall of memorized facts, not academic reading material. The purpose of this experimental study is to determine the effect of spacing on test results when the topic is academic and of interest to the student. 102 participants will be selected from Class IX students of _____ School and divided into six groups. Group 1 will undergo five short reading sessions, and Group 2 will have one long reading session before being tested. Participants will also be grouped based on their interest in Biology. The average test scores of the groups will be compared by the t-test to determine whether having an interest in Biology affects test scores positively, even if the students have to ‘cram’. The results of this study can be applied to devise further and more extensive and elaborate research into the role of motivation and interest in memory storage and recall. Introduction Students are often advised by teachers and other elders to study for examinations over a period of time, as opposed to ‘cramming’ on the day before a test. Experimental research shows that spacing, a process where information is acquired in small bits over a period of time, allows better retention of facts in memory than when massed learning is used, where it is attempted to absorb all the information in one short sitting (Wahlheim, Dunlosky, & Jacoby, 2011). However, the practice of cramming continues- mainly because many students succeed in getting through their examinations by this practice. In the experiments on spaced learning cited above, rote-learning was emphasized on, and participants had to recall facts. The experiments involved testing only vocabulary or obscure facts, which occupy only a small part of education. Whether the subjects were interested or enthusiastic about memorizing these facts and words is not certain. Interest in a topic has been found to have a notable effect on memory and recall (Fass & Schumacher, 1978). Thus, it would be interesting to discover if the benefit of spacing persists if the information to be learned is to be understood, not just memorized, and is of particular interest to the student. My hypothesis is that test scores will be significantly higher when the studying is spaced out over days rather than done right before the test, even when a student is highly interested and enthusiastic about a subject - provided that there are no other conditions that would affect test performance. This prediction is based on my observation that very good students who do well on exams usually begin preparing for tests well ahead of time. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of spacing on test results when the topic is of academic interest to the students. Methods This is an experimental study to determine the difference in test results when two different preparatory approaches are used. The independent study variable will be the type of studying routine that was used, and the student’s status as being interested in Biology or not. The average test score of the group will be the dependent variable. An experimental design has been chosen in order to ensure that the test preparation time and preparatory material covered is similar and measurable for all the participants in a group. Biology has been chosen as the subject, as it involves reading and understanding, not just memorizing of facts, and is a topic which is highly interesting for some students, and the opposite for others. Various confounding factors could affect the results of this study. First, a group with a higher number of smarter students would have a higher average score. To control for this factor, participants will be assorted into the groups using stratification for class rank. Second, participants who have prior knowledge of the material may score better. To control for this factor, the students’ prior exposure to the tested material will be inquired. Students with advanced knowledge of the subject will be excluded from the study. Also, the level of psychological stress may affect test performance. These factors will also be controlled in the study as explained below (instructions and debriefing in Appendix A). The participants for this study will be Grade IX students, selected from _____ School. The following inclusion criteria will be used to select students: (1) students who have not been exposed to A-level biology i.e. have not been reading biology beyond their class coursework – on the internet or through books. (2) Students not currently suffering from any illness or other significant event that may affect their test performance. The administration of the school will be contacted and asked for permission to select subjects from its student body. The students will be subjected to a 5 minute interview to determine if they have engaged in reading A-level biology, and if they meet the inclusion criteria. Students who meet the inclusion criteria will be asked to participate in the study, and a consent form will be given for the parents/guardian to sign before the student is formally enrolled. All participants will be assigned a study enrolment number to protect their identity, and will be administered a questionnaire noting demographic details such as age, sex, and whether they have an interest in Biology (Appendix B). The students will be divided into two equal groups – A and B - by stratified random sampling. Stratification will be done to ensure that an equal number of students of high and low class rank/grade are in each group. This is to prevent either group from containing too many students with above- or below-average academic performance. Group A will consist of students who express an interest in Biology. Group B will serve as the control group, consisting of students who do not particularly enjoy studying Biology. Each group will be divided into three equal sub-groups -1, 2 and 3. The students will be randomly assorted into these groups. Thus, the study will include six groups of students – A (1), B (1), A (2), B (2), A (3) and B (3). Using the software Pass 11, a sample size of 102 was calculated for this experiment. This calculation was for comparing the difference between means using the two-sample t-test, using a power of 80% and a level of significance 0.05. Thus, each subgroup will include 17 participants. The data collection for the experiment will take place at the school over a four-week period. An empty classroom after school will be used. Four chapters selected randomly from The Cambridge International AS and A Level Biology textbook, Second Edition (2007) (Appendix C) - Ch. 21 Gene technology, Ch. 9 The mammalian heart, Ch. 3 Enzymes, and Ch. 19 Control, coordination and homeostasis - will be used as the reading material. The testing material will be derived from questions given on each chapter in the textbook. For each student, a copy of the chapter, excluding the questions section, will be prepared. The questions section will be copied for use as the test. Before the study is initiated, a group of 8 students will be used to pretest the reading material and tests. It seems that two and a half hours of reading time is sufficient for each chapter, and half an hour is adequate for the test. Pretesting will determine whether this time is adequate, otherwise the time period will be modified. All the students in group 1 will have five half-hour sessions over five consecutive days, during which they will be given to read one chapter. Students in group 2 will have one two-and-a-half hour long reading session to read the chapter on the sixth day. Students in group 3 will give the test without being given the reading material. The test will be taken on the sixth day, one hour after the reading session of subgroup 2 ends. This procedure will be repeated over the next three weeks for the remaining chapters. The results of the tests will be gathered and reported as percentages. Consent to carry out this study shall be taken from the local ethics review committee. Informed consent will be taken from all study participants as well as their parents/guardians. Participants and their parents shall be debriefed through a written instructions and consent form sheet formulated along the guidelines of the British Psychological Society (Appendix D). Results The results of the individual tests, recorded as percentages, will be attached to the participants’ questionnaires. The result of each test will be combined for each participant to give an overall percentage score. Data will be entered into Statistical Package for Social Sciences, version 17.0. Analysis that will be carried out will include calculating the mean test percentage scored for each group for each test. The Student’s t-test will be used to determine significant differences between the mean percentage scores of these sub-groups. A p-value of 0.05 will be considered significant. The one-tailed t-test is used to determine a significant difference between two means, and will be used to compare the means of, for example, groups 1 and 2 in Group A. The analysis of interest will be to see whether the mean scores of groups 1 and 2 within group A are significantly different, and whether this significance also exists within group B (my hypothesis is that there will be a significant difference between these sub-groups). Discussion The results of this study will shed light on whether the spacing effect stands when the factors of motivation and interest are present. They will impart credibility to the advice given to students to avoid studying on the final day before a test. The results of this study can be applied to devise further more extensive and elaborate research into the role of motivation in memory storage and recall. References Fass, W., & Schumacher, G. M. (1978). Effects of motivation, subject activity, and readability on the retention of prose materials. Journal of Educational Psychology , 803-807. Wahlheim, C. N., Dunlosky, J., & Jacoby, L. L. (2011). Spacing enhances the learning of natural concepts: an investigation of mechanisms, metacognition, and aging . Memory & Cognition , 750-63. Appendix A Instructions For Experiment Approach administration of ____ School for permission o carry out the experiment. Obtain list of students – divide into Grade A, B, C, D based on class rank. Interview students to determine if they meet inclusion criteria: (1) students who have not been exposed to A-level biology i.e. have not been reading biology beyond their class coursework – on the internet or through books. (2) Students not currently suffering from any illness or other significant event that may affect their test performance. Prepare list of students that meet inclusion criteria, provide them with Informed Consent Form. Prepare list of 102 students who agree to participate – list must contain an equal number of students (about 25) of each grade A to D. Divide this sample into six groups of 17 using stratified random sampling. Each group will have 4 or 5 students belonging to each grade (A, B, C, D). Decide enrolment number of each student, inform students of their numbers. Inform all six groups of fifteen-minute test on Saturday. Inform students of Group A (1) and B (1) of their five half-hour reading sessions to be held after school. Conduct these sessions Monday to Friday. Provide Ch.3 for reading. Inform students of Group A (2) and B (2) of their two-and-a-half hour reading session and test on Saturday. Keep a one-hour break between test and session. Conduct test of Ch. 3 for all the groups. Repeat procedure for next three chapters over next three weeks. Appendix B Questionnaire 1. Enrollment #. _______ 2. Age: _______ 3. Sex: M/F 4. Overall class grade: A / B / C / D 5. Do you have a particular interest in the subject Biology? Y/N Appendix C Materials and Stimuli Textbook: AS/A level Biology (Cambridge International Examinations) (Jones, Fosbery, Taylor, & Gregory, 2007). The textbook for use will be purchased at the initiation of the experiment, a sample cannot be provided due to logistic reasons and copyright issues. Appendix D Information for Participants and Informed Consent Form This is an experiment being conducted by ___your name________ at the _______your instituition______. The purpose of this study is to determine whether test scores are higher if studying is spread out over a week rather than crammed into one day. It also aims to compare this effect when the test topic is, and is not, of interest to the student. This study will be carried out over four weeks. If you agree to participate, you will be assigned to one of six groups. Based on your group, you will be asked to have five half-hour reading sessions and one written test, one two-and-a-half-hour session and the test, or just the test, in one week. The reading material is from an A-level Biology textbook, and the test will be based on the same. Your participation in this experiment is voluntary and you are free to not complete the survey without any penalty, and remove any data that you have contributed. Your name will not be reported anywhere, and your test scores will be kept confidential. Your participation in this study will not earn you any monetary or direct curricular benefits, neither are there any risks involved. You are not required to give anything other than some of your free time. If you agree to participate in this study, please take consent from your parent/guardian and ask them to sign on the next page. You may keep this page for future reference. I acknowledge that the purposes and procedures of this experiment have been explained to my satisfaction. I understand that my child’s participation is totally voluntary and that he/she is free to withdraw at any time with no penalty. Signed_________________________ Date________________________ Read More