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Epstein Michael L. ; Lazarus Amber D. ; Calvano Tammy B. ; Matthews Kelly A. ; Hendel Rachel A. ; Epstein Beth B. ; Brosvic Gary M. ; The Psychological record (Psychol. rec.) 2002, vol. 52, no2, pp. 187-201
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A series of three (3) studies were performed examining multiple-choice testing procedures to determine if providing immediate feedback during a test increased students’ learning and if immediate feedback assisted in correcting mistaken answers. The data from the studies indicate that multiple-choice testing procedures that do not provide immediate corrective feedback facilitate neither learning nor retention.
In Studies 1 and 2, the performance of participants evaluated with the Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique (IF-AT), a testing method providing immediate feedback and enabling participants to answer until correct, was compared to that of participants responding to identical tests with Scantron answer sheets. Performance on initial tests did not differ, but when retested after delays of 1 day or 1 week, participants evaluated with the IF AT on the initial tests, demonstrated on subsequent tests higher scores and correctly answered more questions that had been initially answered incorrectly than did participants who had initially been evaluated with Scantron forms.
In Study 3, immediate feedback and answering until correct was available to all participants using either the IF-AT or a computerized testing system on initial tests, with the final test completed by all participants using Scantron forms. Participants initially evaluated with the IF-AT demonstrated increased retention and correctly responded to more items that had initially been answered incorrectly. The results of this study showed that active involvement in the assessment process plays a crucial role in the acquisition of information, the incorporation of accurate information into cognitive processing mechanisms, and the retrieval of correct answers during retention tests.
Results of Studies 1-3 converge to indicate that testing with the IF-AT method actively engages learners in the discovery process and that this engagement promotes retention of correct answers and the correction of initially inaccurate responses.
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