Traditional undergraduate biology courses are content intensive, requiring students to understand and remember large amounts of information in short periods of time. Yet most students maintain little of the material encountered during their education. Poor knowledge retention is a main cause of academic failure and high undergraduate attrition rates. Characterizing strategies that support robust learning is critical for ensuring student success. One such strategy is testing effect, the observation that repeated testing can improve the fidelity and durability of retained knowledge more than an equal quantity of restudy. Numerous investigations have described the nature and boundaries of testing effect. Very few, however, have characterized its efficacy in actual classroom practice. The current study investigated whether repeated testing or repeated study affected student retention and understanding of complex biological concepts. The study was conducted in a large (~320 students) introductory biology class. All study conditions and assessments were required components of the course. Student retention of two fundamental molecular biology "big ideas" was targeted; (1) the relationship between genotype and phenotype, and (2) the relationship between gene expression and cell function. Students were randomly assigned to one of three repeated quiz or study conditions. For four weeks, students encountered various combinations of multiple-choice (MC) questions and review material related to big ideas 1&2 and/or unrelated lecture topics. Five weeks after the last quiz, all students completed identical MC final exam questions related to both big ideas. To determine the quality of "understanding" assessed by the MC questions, a subset of students also completed a short answer (SA) test prior to the final exam. Both question formats assessed the same knowledge (2 big ideas) at the same level (comprehension and application). Final exam performance supported the finding that repeated retrieval improves long-term retention of knowledge relative to repeated study. Novel to other previous work conducted at the undergraduate level, the current findings suggest that repeated testing affects student retention and understanding of sophisticated concepts. Careful design and analysis of parallel multiple-choice and short answer questions demonstrated that each can target and elicit similar qualities and types of knowledge.

FundaÃÃo de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Cearà / Esta dissertaÃÃo aborda a relaÃÃo da faculdade da imaginaÃÃo com a formaÃÃo de crenÃas e com as outras faculdades como a memÃria e a razÃo no pensamento de David Hume. O foco principal da imaginaÃÃo à o livro I da obra Tratado da Natureza Humana, entretanto algumas consideraÃÃes serÃo feitas acerca da contribuiÃÃo da obra InvestigaÃÃes sobre o Conhecimento Humano para o assunto aqui abordado. Pretende-se mostrar que, para Hume, a imaginaÃÃo tem um papel fundamental na formaÃÃo dos raciocÃnios sobre o mundo e sobre as ciÃncias empÃricas. / This dissertation offers an account of the relation of the faculty of imagination whith the formation of belief and with other faculties such as memory and understanding in Humeâs thought. The main focus of the investigation is the work Treatise on Human Nature, nonetheless some considerations will be made about the contribution of the work Investigation on Human Understanding to the topic at stake. This is a work purported to show that the imagination has a fundamental role in the reasoning processes about the work and about the empirical sciences.

ALVES, Marcelo de Sousa Ferreira. O papel da imaginação no conhecimento humano segundo David Hume. 2015. 74f. – Dissertação (Mestrado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-graduação em Filosofia, Fortaleza (CE), 2015. / Submitted by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2015-12-14T15:39:14Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_dis_msfalves.pdf: 400940 bytes, checksum: 9136cccea5f7a4ac4cd68e82246d2924 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo(marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2015-12-14T16:58:42Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_dis_msfalves.pdf: 400940 bytes, checksum: 9136cccea5f7a4ac4cd68e82246d2924 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-14T16:58:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_dis_msfalves.pdf: 400940 bytes, checksum: 9136cccea5f7a4ac4cd68e82246d2924 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / This dissertation offers an account of the relation of the faculty of imagination whith the formation of belief and with other faculties such as memory and understanding in Hume’s thought. The main focus of the investigation is the work Treatise on Human Nature, nonetheless some considerations will be made about the contribution of the work Investigation on Human Understanding to the topic at stake. This is a work purported to show that the imagination has a fundamental role in the reasoning processes about the work and about the empirical sciences. / Esta dissertação aborda a relação da faculdade da imaginação com a formação de crenças e com as outras faculdades como a memória e a razão no pensamento de David Hume. O foco principal da imaginação é o livro I da obra Tratado da Natureza Humana, entretanto algumas considerações serão feitas acerca da contribuição da obra Investigações sobre o Conhecimento Humano para o assunto aqui abordado. Pretende-se mostrar que, para Hume, a imaginação tem um papel fundamental na formação dos raciocínios sobre o mundo e sobre as ciências empíricas.