The impact of brief reflective responses on student performance

One-minute papers allow students to process what they learned during class and improve student performance. However, this activity can become monotonous and takes significantly longer than the name implies. The research described here tests the effectiveness of a briefer, more flexible version of this technique to increase the perceived relevance of the material and, in turn, performance. Students were randomly assigned to either self-generate a reflective response or answer a content-specific question generated by the instructor at the end of class. Students positively evaluated the brief reflective response activity. Moreover, answering the self-generated reflective responses was associated with greater perceived relevancy of course material to students’ daily lives compared to answering the content-specific questions. Perceived relevancy, in turn, was associated with higher examination grades. Thus, brief reflective responses are a useful tool to increase meaningful connections to course material which enhances examination performance.