The Impact of One-Minute Papers on Learning an Introductory Accounting Course.

This study examines the potential performance benefits of an often-cited pedagogical tool: one-minute papers. The effect of various forms of one-minute papers on quiz scores was investigated in an undergraduate introductory accounting course with over 850 students. Students were required to write one-minute papers addressing (1) the main point learned in class and (2) the main unanswered question from class that day. Overall results indicate that performance on subsequent essay quizzes was significantly higher by students who wrote one-minute papers than performance by students who did not write the papers. Of particular interest to instructors was that the increase in quiz scores when one-minute papers were not graded was significantly higher than when the one-minute papers were graded. Results of this study should be useful to instructors interested in an efficient and effective pedagogical tool.