Applying evidence-based retrieval and distributed practice techniques to optimize student learning and exam scores in a university course

Retrieval practice and distributed practice stand out as two of the most reliable and beneficial techniques among the "desirable difficulty" strategies that were developed by cognitive scientists. This study examined a three-part instructional intervention to improve student learning that included teaching students about the benefits of retrieval and distributed practices, encouraging their independent use of these techniques, and implementing pop quizzes to facilitate retrieval and promote distributed studying habits. The study compared exam performance between two sections of a college-level sports nutrition class that varied in a single experimentally significant aspect: one section experienced the three-part instructional intervention (DD Strategy Group) while the other section did not (Control Group). The alternative hypothesis was that the DD Strategy Group would outscore the Control Group on the course’s four summative exams. During the DD Strategy Group's initial class meeting, the instructor gave the students a 30-minute seminar in which he presented retrieval and distributed practice concepts and then reviewed the evidence showing the learning advantages of each approach. The DD Strategy Group also took ten pop retrieval quizzes throughout the term, with each quiz containing 3-5 short answer questions and requiring approximately 10 minutes to finish. A MANOVA followed by t-tests showed that the DD Strategy Group achieved higher scores than the Control Group on course Exam 1 (t45 = 2.50, P = 0.02, d = 0.8), Exam 2 (t45 = 3.35, P < 0.001, d = 1.0), Exam 3 (t45 = 4.38, P < 0.001, d = 1.3), and Exam 4 (t45 = 4.33, P < 0.001, d = 1.3). In conclusion, the DD Strategy enhanced examination performance by approximately 16%, demonstrating it to be an effective and practical method for improving student learning. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.