Retrieval Practice in the Wild: Comparing Different Multiple‐Choice Question Formats on a Children's TV Gaming Site

Retrieval practice is effective for learning, and is often implemented in digital applications through multiple‐choice questions (MCQs). Stepwise presentation, with answer options appearing after a brief delay, was recently shown to make MCQs more effective. We tested its effects in an authentic setting: a popular TV website with learning games. Users ( N = 13,060) who started a quiz were randomly assigned to standard MCQs, learner‐paced stepwise MCQs, or system‐paced stepwise MCQs (fixed 6 s delay), all with feedback. Learner‐pacing had a (small) positive effect on persistence as measured by the proportion of children completing the entire quiz compared to the other two conditions. Learner‐paced delay times suggested that (most) learners processed the question before revealing the answers. The MCQ‐condition did not affect short‐term learning gains. Overall, learner‐paced stepwise MCQs seem preferable in self‐study settings, to allow learners to recall information from memory but not frustrate them by enforcing a fixed delay.