The Benefit of Self-Testing and Interleaving for Synthesizing Concepts Across Multiple Physiology Texts

Tracy Linderholm, John L. Dobson, Mary Beth Yarbrough

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

A testing-based learning strategy is one that relies on the act of recalling (i.e., testing) information after exposure, and interleaving is a strategy in which the learning materials are presented in a serial order (e.g., texts 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3) versus a blocked order (e.g., texts 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3). Although both learning strategies have been thoroughly investigated, few studies have examined their additive effect with higher-order cognitive tasks such as the ability to identify themes across multiple texts, and none of those did so using physiology information. The purpose of the present study was to compare recall and thematic processing across five different physiology texts. Participants were randomly assigned to learn the texts using one of the following four learning strategies: 1) study-study-study (S-S-S) using a blocked order, 2) S-S-S using an interleaved order, 3) study-test-study (S-T-S) using a blocked order, and 4) S-T-S using an interleaved order. Over the course of the following week, the S-T-S groups had more stable recall of key text ideas compared with the S-S-S groups, and the S-T-S group had more stable recall of thematic information than the S-S-S group when interleaving was used as the presentation order.

Original languageAmerican English
JournalAdvances in Physiology Education
Volume40
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1 2016

Keywords

  • Interleaving
  • Multiple text processing
  • Physiology education
  • Retrieval practice
  • Self-testing
  • Testing

DC Disciplines

  • Educational Methods
  • Curriculum and Social Inquiry
  • Curriculum and Instruction
  • Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research

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