Chapter 17 Part 2

Question 1

Describe 10 learning techniques by Dunlosky

Answer 1

Highly useful–>
Summarization (writing summaries of texts)
Imagery for text (forming mental images of text materials)
Re-reading (restudying text material after an initial reading).

Moderately useful–>
Elaborative integration (generating explanations for stated facts)
Self-explanation (explaining how new info is related to known info)
Interleaved practise (studying different kinds of material within a single study session).

self-explanation + elaborative integration are moderately effective b/c

(1) they are applicable generally
(2) they require minimal training.

Question 2

Describe the SQ3R approach

Answer 2

Survey–>obtaining an overall view of how the info in the chapter is organized (e.g. chapter summary).
Question–>thinking of relevant questions
Read–>answer the questions generated + integrate the info provided to pre-existing topic knowledge.
Recite–>remember the key ideas contained in the chapter
Review–>combining info from different sections into a coherent structure.

Question 3

Describe the testing effect + evidence for it by Bangert-Drowns

Answer 3

Trying to recall the material from the chapter (without the possibility of restudying the material)–>most effective in promoting good long-term retention.

This is b/c of the testing effect–>practice in retrieving info during the learning period can enhance LTM more than simply engaging in study-restudy

In a review of 35 classroom studies, 83% of these studies showed the testing effect with the effect increasing as testing occasions increased

Participants learned lists consisting of words belonging to various categories (e.g. four-footed animals, articles of clothing).
Learners engaged in repeated retrieval practice–>better than those engaged in study on a free-recall task two days later
Repeated practice leads to enhanced organizational processes

Question 4

Describe Pyc and Rawson’s mediator effectiveness hypothesis

Answer 4

Testing in the form of repeated retrieval practice allows for an effective retrieval structure (based on effective mediators + organizational processes)–>facilitates access to info stored in LTM

This is b/c learners experience retrieval failures during testing–>encourage them to seek mediators that are more effective

Participants received a mixture of test + study trials (test–restudy group), whereas others received only learning trials (restudy group).

Final memory test 1 week after the original session.

The test–restudy group recalled almost 3x as many target words as the restudy group.

Members of the test-restudy group were better at recalling mediators when presented with cue words

Recalling mediators on target recall–>much more beneficial for the test–restudy group

Question 5

Describe similarities/differences between mind maps + concept maps

Answer 5

Concept maps + mind maps both visually show the links among several ideas or concepts

Mind maps–>more flexible + personal, more likely to contain images + colour.

Concept maps–>Hierarchical: general concepts at the top + more specific ones below. More useful in medical education.

Concept + mind maps might enhance learning b/c:

A) Students need to be actively involved in the learning process to produce adequate maps.

B) Concepts have several links or associations to each other (more realistic + easier to recall than linear text)

C) Concepts are reduced to 1-2 words, extracting the essence of their meaning/ignoring trivial details.

D) Mind maps (but not concept maps) provide striking visual images that facilitate recall

Question 6

Describe various studies proving the effectiveness of concept maps/mind maps

Answer 6

Medical students using concept maps–>increase in meaningful learning, improved integration of science info, enhanced critical thinking
Relied on students’ self-reports of the effects of concept/mind maps.

Another study assessed medical students’ recall of factual knowledge from a 600-word text.
Those trained in the mind-map technique recalled 10% more

Another study compared tutorials for medical students in which concept maps were/weren’t used.
Students who used concept maps–>better at integrating the knowledge of physiological concepts + identifying gaps in their knowledge.
Concept map tutorials had superior final exam scores

Question 7

Are there individual differences that account for preference for mind maps/ concept maps?

Answer 7

There are only small individual differences.
The self-reported usefulness of concept maps did not vary across students with different learning styles.

In another study, however, Budd argued that individual differences in learning style explain why many students do not seem to be very motivated when using mind maps.

Preference for a “doing” style–>felt they learned more from mind maps
Preference for a “thinking” style–>rated lectures much more favourably than mind maps.

In another study, the use of concept maps enhanced performance in a problem-solving exam but failed to do so in a multiple-choice exam.

Question 8

Describe how actors learn verbatim

Answer 8

processing of meaning typically produces good recall of the gist of a text but not of its exact wording

Actors recalled their parts from Sartre’s ( No Exit ) 5 months after the end of the production.
53% recalled verbatim + 28% paraphrases capturing the meaning + 3% inferences based on the script–>overall 85% of the text was retained in some form

professional actors do not start by trying to learn the exact words of the script–> Instead, focus on the needs/ motivations of their characters.

Noice presented 6 actors with a scene from a play in which they discuss love and possible infidelity.
Asked to verbalize their thoughts as they worked through the script.
Over 40% of the thoughts belonged to the category of interactions
2nd + 3rd most common categories of utterances were meta statements regarding the actor’s learning process + memorization about why some lines are easier or harder to learn