Applying Cognitive Science to Questioning: Timing
Jonathan Firth's Memory & Metacognition Updates #136
Hello! As mentioned previously, I have been busy working on a book, leading to less frequent posts so far this year. The book is called The Psychology of Education, and will be published by Open University Press. I submitted the first draft last week, and can now focus more on these updates!
I thought I’d pick up on the issue of questioning. I’ve discussed this before (see update #106) but there’s much more to say on this key facet of pedagogy.
In the previous post, I made links with:
Retrieval practice, particularly when whole-group questioning is used (e.g. with the help of mini whiteboards);
Self-explanation and other techniques that prompt learners to think more deeply and make conceptual links.
These examples show that while questioning can be used to check for knowledge (a formative assessment strategy), it also plays a role in what is studied to be retained securely and flexibly in memory.
There are many more links that can be made between questioning and cognitive science, however. Here are couple of major ones to start with, and I will share more very soon.
Questioning and the spacing effect
While we sometimes think of the spacing effect in terms of delays of days or weeks, early research like Glenberg (1976) or Ross and Landauer (1978) studied much briefer time gaps between items – seconds or minutes. This is exactly what happens in a single lesson or practice session. It can inform an educator who wonders: how long should I leave it before repeating a question or example?
Ross and Landauer (1978) note that the spacing effect is “remarkably robust in both scope and size”. They add that “two immediately successive presentations are hardly more effective than a single presentation, while two well-spaced presentations are about twice as effective as one” (p. 669).
The benefits are apparent. In practice, educators can consider asking a question – or repeating one – after a short delay. This could include:
Rather than asking a question immediately after students engage with an explanation or text, waiting until after the subsequent task.
Repeating a question that students got wrong, but waiting a few minutes to do so.
Interleaving questions on topics B and C, so that a few seconds pass before students hear another question on topic A
I feel that these and other applications can become habits in classroom situations, but can also be supported by simple tweaks to planning.
Review and exit questions
Are there benefits of asking review questions at the end of a class, tutorial or lecture? Following on closely from the points above, delayed practice, even if the delay is rather short, could make the practice more impactful. It therefore makes some sense to repeat questions (or ask similar ones) when a class is near its end.
I do have some reservations about commonly used ‘exit tickets’, though, when used formatively to (supposedly) demonstrate that learning objectives have been achieved.
The trouble is that this demonstrates performance, not learning (see update #89). It does not account for forgetting, and is tapping into the retrieval strength of memories rather than their storage strength.
Correct answers on such exit tickets could also generate metacognitive errors among both students and teachers, leading them to mistakenly think that the material is permanently stored in memory after the initial lesson or lecture, when in reality, a lot of forgetting is likely to occur.
So, while end-of-class questions are useful as delayed practice, it’s important that they are not seen as the end of the process. Repeating the questions after a further delay (e.g. after 1–2 weeks) would be an improvement, helping to achieve further consolidation and highlighting the extent of forgetting to students.
As I’ve focused on the spacing effect today, I’ll share a classic paper that had a big influence on me during the early days as a teacher, when I first began to think about applying the effect in the classroom:
Dempster, F. N. (1988). The spacing effect: A case study in the failure to apply the results of psychological research. American Psychologist, 43(8), 627–634.
All the best for the coming week,
Jonathan
Last time: Purposes of Education, Part 2
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