Recent studies of instruction have been concerned with the cognitive processes of learners as they interact with instructional material. Researchers pursuing this line of research consider the learner to be very active, mediating between instructional stimuli and learning outcomes. Using the mediating process paradigm to formulate research on instruction in college classroom settings, the present study investigated two specific questions: (1) What attending strategies generate effective encoding during a lecture so that comprehension is enhanced? (2) What is the influence of reviewing processes on encoding and retrieval of lecture information when review occurs immediately after a lecture and/or just before a test? Four different methods for attending to a college lecture were studied (listening, listening with an outline, note-taking, note-taking with an outline). Each method was designed to influence the student's level of processing, and, therefore, to effect the encoding and retrieval of information from a lecture. In addition, the effects of no review or review after a lecture and no review or review before a test were also studied. The experiment used an intentional learning paradigm, with a 4(encoding) x 2(after-lecture review) x 2(before-test review) between-subject design. Comprehension was measured by a multiple-choice recognition test of 20 questions and a short-answer recall test of 10 questions given three weeks after lecture instruction. Statistically significant findings provide evidence that the level of processing is an important variable in learning from college lecture. Other findings, though not statistically significant, lent support to the external storage hypothesis. These data help to explain why note-taking and/or lecture outline are advantageous in lecture learning. Findings from the present study suggest ways to improve learning from college lecture. If lecturers were to provide outlines to students while the students listen or take notes; require a review after a lecture is given; and require a review before a test on the content of the lecture is given; learning would probably be facilitated. Further study of these recommendations is needed.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 108-114).

Testing is the most common way to assess student learning at all ages and grade levels. Testing is traditionally viewed as a measure of knowledge, and not as a way to enhance learning. Nonetheless, a large body of literature demonstrates that testing is actually an effective way to facilitate learning and enhance long-term memory for information. This finding, that retrieval of information from memory leads to better retention than re-studying or re-reading the same information, has been termed the testing effect. The benefit of testing compared to review of material is typically seen after a delay between practice and final test, with review being a better strategy when the test is given immediately or after a short delay. This phenomenon has been shown across a variety of contexts, test formats, retention intervals, and ranges of ages and abilities. However, one domain in which the testing effect has not been shown to work is in the review of student-produced lecture notes. Lecture note-taking is a ubiquitous learning strategy and notes have been shown to be highly correlated with academic outcomes such as test performance and GPA. Note-taking in itself is a cognitively demanding process, and students often struggle to take accurate and complete notes from lecture, thus limiting the benefits of note-taking and review. There is limited research on ways to improve the review function of notes. Thus, this dissertation sought to understand the effect of integrating the testing effect into the context of lecture note-taking on memory for information compared to review of notes and a lecture-only control. A sample of 59 high school students watched a video lecture and took notes on the information. The lecture was divided into three sections with two-minute pauses in between each segment. During each pause, students were asked to either reread their notes from the previous section (review group), recall and write down what they remembered to be the most important ideas from the lecture they were just shown (self-testing group), or complete a distractor word search puzzle for the duration of the pause (lecture-only control group). Participants were given a written recall test of lecture information following a one-day delay. Comparisons were made between lecture groups on test performance and note quantity. Measures of sustained attention and mind-wandering during lecture were examined as covariates. While participants in the self-testing group scored higher on the written recall test, this difference did not reach statistical significance. Self-testing and reviewing notes during lecture pauses were both significantly better than lecture note-taking alone. Results also showed that it was actually the students in the review group who took significantly more notes than those in the lecture-only control. There was a main effect for time, indicating that students in all lecture groups took increasingly more notes as the lecture progressed. Note quantity was found to be a significant predictor of test performance. Examination of attentional variables showed that students who reported lower instances of mind-wandering took significantly more notes and did significantly better on the recall test. Further, students in the self-testing group reported less of an increase in mind-wandering as the lecture progressed compared to those in the control group. Differences between the results of this study and other studies in the testing effect literature are hypothesized to be due several factors, including complexity of lecture information, encoding difficulties, and the presentation of new information at each self-testing time point. Future research should continue to explore the testing effect in conjunction with note taking.

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Open University. BLDSC no. DX235700.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-71). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-71). Also available on the Internet.

The study investigated the effects of different instructional methods and preinstructional backgrounds of the subjects upon the instructional effectiveness of Libyan high school teachers. The two measures of teaching effectiveness used in the study consisted of student learning as measured by the performance on a domain-referenced achievement test and the student ratings of course effectiveness. The sample for this study consisted of 15 tenth-grade classes in six public high schools located in the City of Tripoli, Libya. A total of 542 subjects participated in the study of whom 331 were male and the remaining 211 were female. The chronological ages of the subjects ranged from 13 1/4 to 28 1/6 years. Each of the selected participating teachers was randomly assigned two tenth-grade classes and was instructed to teach one class by lecture method and the other by discussion method. Thus, the same teachers each taught two different classes with varying instructional methodologies. Five classes taught by the other group of teachers called "non-participating teachers" served as the control group. The content of instruction was selected from a regular geography textbook and was divided into 12 units. Each unit represented a lesson. These lessons were delivered during 6 weeks of instruction at the rate of two lessons a week. Prior to the commencement of the study an achievement test, an ability measure, and an educational attitude scale were administered. At the termination of the study an alternate form of the achievement test and a course effectiveness scale were administered. The data collected were analyzed by using a factorial analysis of variance design. The ability, previous achievement, and educational attitude measures were used as indices of preinstructional backgrounds of the selected subjects. The obtained results indicated that the three instructional methods produced differential effects on subjects with varying aptitudes, especially when the overall previous achievement and ability test scores were used as indicators of learner aptitude. High-aptitude subjects showed the highest amount of learning gains and seemed to be the least affected by differences in the teaching methodologies. Subjects with medium aptitudes benefited most from the discussion method while subjects with low aptitudes profited most from the lecture method. These findings lend some support to the aptitude-treatment interaction phenomenon noted by other researchers. Similar aptitude-treatment interaction effects were not observed when educational attitudes, achievement in geography, and students' perceptions toward courses were used as measures of learner aptitude. The overall direction of the findings led to the conclusion that the effectiveness of different instructional procedures is related to individual characteristics of the learners, and that the aptitude-treatment interaction effects are observable only when global measures of ability and achievement are used as the indicators of the learner aptitudes.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-76). Also available on the Internet.