The Influence Of Different Testing Intervals On The Forward Testing Effect Of Worked Example Learning

In educational practice,testing is not only a tool of assessing learning and teaching,but also a learning strategy that can effectively improve learning efficiency.A great deal of research has shown that after taking a test(or retrieval practice)of previously studied information,learners generally perform better on the final test than those who restudied the same material.The beneficial effects of testing even occur when no feedback is provided after a test or when retrieval attempts are unsuccessful during a test.This phenomenon is referred to as the testing effect,also known as the backward testing effect.In recent years,researchers have found that testing on previously studied information can also facilitate the learning and memory of subsequent new information,a phenomenon termed as the forward testing effect.In addition to examining the memory effect of tests on new learning materials,researchers are pouring increasing attention into the transfer effect in the forward testing effect.At present,researches on the promoting effect of testing on the transfer of new materials mainly focus on worked-example learning.Most of them take the paintings of different artists as experimental materials to explore the effects and underlying mechanisms of forward testing effect.Few studies use learning materials in actual teaching situations to explore the forward testing effect in worked-example learning.Learning by example is an effective and efficient method in significant educational areas such as math and science that require learners to acquire problem-solving skills.Therefore,on the basis of previous studies,the study will use learning materials in real educational situations to explore whether the forward testing effect in worked-example learning can be applied to classroom teaching,and also explore whether the forward testing effect in worked-example learning can be stable in a period of time.A total of three experiments were designed in this study.In experiment 1,we used paintings by artists of different styles as experimental materials and adopted the research paradigm of Experiment 3 of Lee and Ahn(2018)to explore whether the forward testing effect in picture sample learning is stable within a certain period of time.A three-factor mixed experimental design was used in experiment 1,with learning material(Part I/Part II)as within-subject factor,learning strategy(testing/restudy)and testing interval(instant/2 days)as between-subject factors,and dependent variables as correct rate of new sample transfer,learning judgment value and confidence judgment value.The results showed that in the second part of learning materials,the correct rate of new sample transfer in the test group was significantly higher than that in the restudy group both immediately and 2 days later.The correct rate of new sample transfer in the immediate test condition was significantly higher than that in the delayed test condition.The learning judgment value and confidence judgment value in the test group was significantly higher than that in the restudy group.These results indicated that the forward testing effect in picture sample learning is stable within a certain period of time,and the participants can realize the beneficial effects of interim testing.In experiment 2,learning materials closer to real educational situations(declarative concepts based on examples)were adopted,and the paradigm,design,independent variables and dependent variables were identical to those of experiment 1.The final result pattern was the same as experiment 1,that is,in the second part of learning materials,the correct rate of new sample transfer in the test group was significantly higher than that in the restudy group both immediately and 2 days later.The correct rate of new sample transfer in the immediate test condition was significantly higher than that in the delayed test condition.The learning judgment value and confidence judgment value in the test group was significantly higher than that in the restudy group.These results suggested that the forward testing effect appears in the demonstrative concept learning based on the sample,and the forward testing effect is stable in a certain period of time.In addition,the participants were aware about the beneficial effects of interim testing.Experiment 3 explored whether the forward testing effect in sample learning can be applied to real educational situations.The examples of different denominator fraction addition operation was taken as experimental material.The experiment 3 adopted a two-factor between-subjects experimental design.The independent variables were learning strategy(testing/restudy)and testing interval(immediate/2 days)and the dependent variable was scores of subjects in the final test.The results revealed that the scores of the test group were significantly higher than those of the restudy group both immediately and 2 days later,and there was no significant difference between the immediate test condition and the delayed test condition.These results demonstrated that the forward testing effect in sample learning can be applied to real educational situations,and the forward testing effect had a long-term stability.In conclusion,this study draws the following conclusions:(1)The forward testing effect in sample learning is stable in different types of learning materials.(2)The forward testing effect in sample learning exists robustly at different time intervals.