← Spaced RepetitionReview design

Prompts that evolve

Prompt type shapes what retrieval makes the learner do, so prompts should become more generative over time.

Key findings

  1. 01

    Retrieval practice can produce transfer, but transfer is not automatic. It depends on the kind of mental work the prompt requires.

  2. 02

    Repeated testing can improve inference and transfer to new questions and even new domains relative to repeated studying.

  3. 03

    Meta-analytic work shows a reliable overall transfer benefit from test-enhanced learning compared with non-testing controls.

  4. 04

    Self-explanation improves understanding by forcing learners to integrate new information with prior knowledge.

  5. 05

    Learning-by-teaching studies support later-stage prompts that ask users to teach, explain, or reconstruct an idea in their own words.

References

5 sources
  1. 1.

    Transfer of test-enhanced learning: meta-analytic review and synthesis (2018). Psychological Bulletin. doi: 10.1037/bul0000151.

  2. 2.

    Repeated testing produces superior transfer of learning relative to repeated studying (2010). doi: 10.1037/a0019902.

  3. 3.

    The science of effective learning with spacing and retrieval practice (2022). Nature Reviews Psychology. doi: 10.1038/s44159-022-00089-1.

  4. 4.

    Eliciting self-explanations improves understanding (1994). Cognitive Science. doi: 10.1207/s15516709cog1803_3.

  5. 5.

    The relative benefits of learning by teaching and teaching expectancy (2013). Contemporary Educational Psychology. doi: 10.1016/j.cedpsych.2013.06.001.