Effects of delayed retention on multiple-choice test performance

In two experiments, immediate feedback defined as feedback following the completion of a 40-item multiple-choice test and delayed feedback (received 48 hr later) were examined in a simulated classroom situation with college students. As defined, delayed feedback was not superior to immediate feedback, as would be predicted by the delayed retention effect. Also, feedback in the form of correct answer only was superior to correct answer plus distractors lending partial support to the frequency theory of recognition memory. In addition to not finding the delayed retention effect, an analysis of errors in experiment two did not support the interference—perseveration hypothesis as an explanation for the type of error committed following immediate feedback.     

Effects of "On-Line" Test Feedback on the Seriousness of Subsequent Errors

The present study examined the effect of three modes of feedback on the seriousness of error types committed on a post-test. The measure of seriousness of error types, or wrong rules, indicates to what extent the wrong rules deviate from the right rule. An on-line, free-response, six-item pre-test covering addition of signed numbers was administered to 263 eighth graders. Upon completion of the pre-test, the students were randomly assigned to receive one of the following kinds of feedback to responses to a second six-item test: (a) information about whether or not the response was correct, (b) the correct answer, or (c) the correct rule for solving the problem. The effect of the feedback mode on the seriousness of errors committed on a third six-item test, the post-test, was found to be differential and dependent upon the seriousness of errors committed on the pre-test.     

Feedback complexity and corrective efficiency

College undergraduates read a 2400-word passage, responded to 16 multiple-choice questions, and received one of four types of feedback following their responses. Complexity of feedback was inversely related to both error correctability and criterion efficiency taken as a ratio of feedback study time to post-test corrects. The results were discussed in terms of depth of processing and instructional comprehension.     

Effects of informative feedback in relation to retention of initial responses

Ninety-seven fifth graders read a 900-word text followed by a multiple-choice test consisting of factual and guess questions that, respectively, could or could not be answered on the basis of the text. They received informative feedback either immediately after the test, after a day, or no feedback. All children were retested 7 days after the initial test and subsequently asked to identify their initial-test responses. On the delayed test, subjects in the feedback conditions outperformed subjects in the no-feedback condition on both types of question, but they did not identify more initial responses correctly. There were no differences between the feedback conditions. Initial-response identification was better for factual than for guess questions. Analysis of identification scores in relation to initial- and delayed-test response sequences suggested that awareness of initial errors may be helpful rather than detrimental for the acquisition of correct responses through feedback.     

The correction of errors committed with high confidence

Most theories predict that when people indicate that they are highly confident they are producing their strongest responses. Hence, if such a high confidence response is in error it should be overwritten only with great difficulty. In contrast to this prediction, we have found that people easily correct erroneous responses to general information questions endorsed as correct with high-confidence, so long as the correct answer is given as feedback. Three potential explanations for this unexpected hypercorrection effect are summarized. The explanation that is tested here, in two experiments, is that after a person commits a high-confidence error the correct answer feedback, being surprising or unexpected, is given more attention than is accorded to the feedback to low-confidence errors. This enhanced attentional capture leads to better memory. In both experiments, a tone detection task was presented concurrently with the corrective feedback to assess the attentional capture of feedback stimuli. In both, tone detection was selectively impaired during the feedback to high confidence errors. It was also negatively related to final performance, indicating that the attention not devoted to the tone detection was effectively engaged by the corrective feedback. These data support the attentional explanation of the high-confidence hypercorrection effect.     

Constraints on the Calibration of Performance

We examined the effect of experimenter-controlled incentives and feedback on the calibration of performance. Subjects answered 36 reading comprehension and 8 mathematical multiple-choice questions and rated the accuracy of their responses. Perfect calibration was possible only when true and estimated test performance were approximately equal. Incentives for improved performance (i.e., doubling the credit people received for correct answers) adversely affected performance and calibration compared to the same incentives for improved calibration (i.e., doubling credit for minimizing the error between true and estimated performance). Feedback had no effect on performance or accuracy nor did it interact with the incentive variable. An examination of coefficient α suggested a strong response bias by individuals when calibrating their performance; individuals tended to rate their performance accuracy consistently regardless of item difficulty or whether they answered the item correctly. Educational implications were discussed.     

Evaluating an Automatically Scorable, Open-Ended Response Type for Measuring Mathematical Reasoning in Computer-Adaptive Tests

The first generation of computer-based tests depends largely on multiple-choice items and constructed-response questions that can be scored through literal matches with a key. This study evaluated scoring accuracy and item functioning for an open-ended response type where correct answers, posed as mathematical expressions, can take many different surface forms. Items were administered to 1,864 participants in field trials of a new admissions test for quantitatively oriented graduate programs. Results showed automatic scoring to approximate the accuracy of multiple-choice scanning, with all processing errors stemming from examinees improperly entering responses. In addition, the items functioned similarly in difficulty, item-total relations, and male-female performance differences to other response types being considered for the measure.     

A comparison of sentence-learning errors in children of different achievement levels

Theoretical analyses of the multiple-choice test format suggest that a test constructor should give serious consideration to the form in which correct and incorrect alternatives are presented. In this experiment, third and fourth graders were tested for previously exposed information by multiple-choice items in which: (a) correct alternatives were stated in either verbatim or synonym form; and (b) incorrect alternatives consisted of plausible responses that were either familiar or new. Comparisons of errors and error patterns were made between high and low achieving students who had been given one of two different information-processing strategies. Based on a dual test function argument, it was concluded that synonym correct alternatives combined with plausible new responses are the most desirable of the four multiple-choice variations studied here. In particular, such items were sensitive to achievement level and strategy differences without systematically increasing students' likelihood of retaining misinformation.     

An Expanded Control Model for the Use of Instructional Feedback

The strengths of the now classic Kulhavy/Stock model of instructional feedback are summarized and various researchers′ suggestions for improvement are incorporated into an expanded model. Data from two computer drill experiments demonstrate that the use of feedback varies systematically between subjects: the highest achieving subjects use feedback as the Kulhavy/Stock model predicts, the intermediate achievers use of feedback is less predictable, and the lowest achievers use feedback in a nearly random manner. These response patterns can be addressed in a feedback processing model which adds higher level goals related to certitude and correct responding. The expanded model has the following characteristics: feedback processing is not automatic, but varies in mindfulness; learner′s individual goals are incorporated; analysis and modeling are conducted on a subject by subject basis; and instructional feedback is understood more in terms of each learner′s control systems and less in terms of a stimulus-response orientation.     

The propagation of errors in experimental data analysis: a comparison of pre- and post-test designs

Experimental designs involving the randomization of cases to treatment and control groups are powerful and under-used in many areas of social science and social policy. This paper reminds readers of the pre- and post-test, and the post-test only, designs, before explaining briefly how measurement errors propagate according to error theory. The substance of the paper involves a series of comparisons using the same measurements, all assumed to have a small initial error, and seeing what would happen to that error in the two different experimental designs. The findings from these calculations and simulations are that although post-test only and pre- and post-test designs yield different ‘manifest’ results with the same data, the substantive conclusions drawn would be similar in most real-life situations. However, if these manifest results are assumed to be in error, stemming from small initial errors in the measurements at pre- and post-test, then these substantive conclusions could be completely wrong. In one example, the pre- and post-test designs propagate an initial maximum measurement error of 10% to an error of over 60,000% in the answer. In general, and perhaps counter-intuitively, the post-test only results are less misleading. The paper ends by summarizing the lessons drawn. The key message is that all other things being equal, the post-test only design is to be preferred. We may also need to use bigger samples, and more strictly accurate measures, capable of objective calibration focus on seeking larger effect sizes.     

Prompting secondary students’ use of criteria,feedback specificity and feedback levels during an investigative task

This study investigates the effects of prompting on secondary students’ written peer feedback in chemistry investigation reports. In particular, we examined students’ feedback features in relation to the use of criteria, feedback specificity, and feedback levels. A quasi-experimental pre-test post-test design was adopted. Reviewers in the prompted condition were provided with question prompts that asked them to pose written feedback to their peers on what they did or did not do well and suggestions for improvement, while reviewers in the unprompted condition gave written peer feedback without prompts. The findings showed that prompted peer feedback has a significant effect on the number of comments related to Knowledge of errors, Suggestions for improvement and Process level feedback. This study supports the view that prompting peer feedback in the use of criteria, feedback specificity and feedback levels opens up opportunity for reviewers to engage more meaningfully with peer feedback in report writing tasks.     

基于Struts的甘南矿产资源Web管理系统设计与实现

采用数据库技术、多媒体技术及Web技术,研究如何设计满足基于网络环境的甘南矿产资源管理系统,提出了甘南矿产资源管理系统的总体架构,对完成该系统所要用的技术和开发环境进行讨论,并分析采集和处理各种媒体形式的矿产资源数据,实现对多媒体数据的数据统计、分析、检索和信息查询等功能。     

Stimulus stringing by pigeons: Effect of feedback for correct selections

Previous studies have shown that pigeons could learn a serial list of colors and to select each color in the proper order when presented with an array of colors. Errors of jumping forward in the required sequence (forward errors) were most probable, with jumps backward in the required sequence (backward errors) being relatively improbable. One proposed explanation for the higher probability of forward errors suggests that the pigeon pecks at the correct stimulus without activating the response switch and then pecks the next stimulus in the sequence closing the response switch. This “inadequate-peck” hypothesis suggests that forward errors are due to weak stimulus control and that increased feedback for correct pecks should therefore reduce forward error probability relative to a low-feedback condition. The present study compared responding under conditions of high and no experimenter-provided feedback for correct pecks. As the feedback did not affect the probability of forward errors, the inadequate-peck hypothesis was not supported. A short-term memory explanation is consistent with the data.     

德语习得中英语干扰性错误类型分析

依据错误分析理论对德语习得中英德语言学干扰性错误进行分析与研究,并提出了一些对错误进行正确分析和处理的方法,以避免和减少干扰性错误的产生,保障语言教学的顺利进行。     

Effects of Traditional Versus Montessori Schooling on 4‐ to 15‐Year Old children's Performance Monitoring

Through performance monitoring individuals detect and learn from unexpected outcomes, indexed by post‐error slowing and post‐error improvement in accuracy. Although performance monitoring is essential for academic learning and improves across childhood, its susceptibility to educational influences has not been studied. Here we compared performance monitoring on a flanker task in 234 children aged 4 through 15, from traditional or Montessori classrooms. While traditional classrooms emphasize that students learn from teachers' feedback, Montessori classrooms encourage students to work independently with materials specially designed to support learners discovering errors for themselves. We found that Montessori students paused longer post‐error in early childhood and, by adolescence, were more likely to self‐correct. We also found that a developmental shift from longer to shorter pauses post‐error being associated with self‐correction happened younger in the Montessori group. Our findings provide preliminary evidence that educational experience influences performance monitoring, with implications for neural development, learning, and pedagogy.     

基于复合选择题的雷同答卷甄别探析——以某资格考试为例

基于某资格类考试考后数据,对包含单选题和多选题的复合选择题的雷同答卷进行分析,提出单选甄别、多选甄别和合并甄别3种甄别方案,设计不同测验长度、难度、被抄袭考生水平、题目抄袭比率、作弊考生比率及显著性水平的实验样本。研究结果显示:合并甄别和单选甄别都表现出较好的甄别性能,多选甄别由于多选题数量方面的劣势,甄别率低且Ⅰ型错误率高。据此,提出甄别雷同答卷的建议:如果对甄别出的雷同答卷考生进行违纪违规处理,可将单选甄别和合并甄别分别甄别出的结果取交集作为最后处理依据;如果不对甄别结果进行处理,可将2种方案分别甄别出的结果取并集,以此来对考区或考点的考风考纪进行监管。     

Use of Paper-Based Support Tools to Aid the Acquisition of Cognitive Skills During Unsupervised Practice

This paper describes how graduate students used paper-based support tools to help them acquire a complex cognitive skill during unsupervised practice, and explains why the tools were able to support the practice. The paper also explains how to design such tools and describes a comparable computer-based performance support system. Ohlsson's (1996) theory of learning from performance errors states that people learn a skill by detecting and correcting errors while performing the skill. Learners must have sufficient initial competence and an informative task environment in order to detect and correct errors and make sound decisions. The support tools were successful because they supplied learners with initial competence and an informative task environment. Tools that support learner error-trapping are more likely to help learners eventually perform without support than systems that correct errors for the learners.     

The effects of self-explanation training on students' problem solving in high-school mathematics

The performance of a group of grade 9 mathematics students trained to use a self-explanation procedure during study of a new theorem in geometry was compared with that of students who used their usual study procedures. The processing activities used by the students during the study session and those used in a subsequent problem-solving test were observed. The focus of analysis on both occasions was on the knowledge access, knowledge generation, management and elaboration activities used by students. The self-explanation group showed more frequent use of each type of activity and also obtained higher scores on the problem-solving test. The difference in post-test performance of the groups was greatest on a set of far-transfer items. These items required the students to extend their use of the newly learned theorem to problem types that were substantially different from those presented in the original study material. Of particular note was the carryover effect of self-explanation training to students' processing in the subsequent problem-solving session. The relationships among the processing activities, students' beliefs, prior knowledge and post-test performance were examined using a partial least-squares path analysis procedure. Use of the self-explanation method had an indirect effect on performance, this effect being mediated by associated knowledge access and knowledge generation activity. There was no direct effect of method on performance. The strongest predictor of performance was the level of knowledge generation activity during which students showed evidence of making novel connections, either within the newly presented study material or between parts of that material and their existing geometry knowledge. In the final path model derived from the analysis of student performance, the students' prior knowledge measure had both a weak direct on their problem-solving performance and an effect on that performance that was mediated by relationships with the knowledge access and knowledge generation variables in the model.     

Description and interactions of informative text structure knowledge and skills of French-speaking Grade 6 students

This study was conducted in the province of Québec, Canada, among French-speaking Grade 6 students (n?=?175) in the context of a school curriculum that does not clearly address text structure and main idea instruction. It aims to understand whether these students can identify informative text structures and main ideas in isolated paragraphs, comprehend main ideas and text structure in an informative text, and write a short structured informative text. It also describes relationships between these knowledge and skills coming from different reading and writing tasks. Three assessments relative to informative text structures were administered: a multiple-choice test on text structure knowledge and identification of main ideas, a reading comprehension test, and a short writing task. Results revealed that students performed better in the multiple-choice assessment compared to other assessments. Correlations between variables stemming from the three assessments were significant but their effect sizes were low to moderate. A hypothesized model was investigated via a path analysis suggesting that structure knowledge and main idea identification influence reading comprehension, which then influence writing.