A preliminary investigation of question type used during response card activities on establishing concept formation in an introductory college class

Research has demonstrated that only approximately 63% of students beginning college complete a bachelor’s degree within six years. Active student responding (ASR) represents one behavior analytic practice that has garnered attention in higher education. Guidance on the type of questions asked during ASR activities appears minimal. The type of questions presented during ASR activities that yield the greatest learning outcomes represents an empirical question that has yet to be answered. The present paper sought to evaluate the effects of the type of question asked during response-card activities on the emergence of conceptual learning. The experimenters compared practice questions that ask students to recall specific definitions to practice questions that require the student to discriminate between examples and non-examples of concepts in order to determine the effects on performance on daily quizzes. The results suggest that questions asking students to classify examples and non-examples of concepts produce greater learning.