the psychology of learning and motivation - Percepts and Concepts ...

24 Henry L. Roediger et al.subjects from the buildup of proactive interference. In additional experiments,Szpunar et al. (2008) ruled out the hypothesis that the release fromproactive interference caused by testing is due to re-exposure to thematerial because a comparison condition having subjects restudy thelists (rather than receiving tests) did not protect against the buildup ofproactive interference.The results from these and other experiments provide compellingevidence that testing protects subjects from the negative effects of proactiveinterference, at least when they are required to learn lists of words insuccession. While testing causes a release from proactive interference inexperimental settings, it is not yet clear whether these results have implicationsfor classroom practice. Bridging experiments using nonfictionprose materials and the like is the next step needed. However, we areoptimistic that these results will eventually provide lessons for classroompractice and for self-testing as a study strategy. The next two sectionsdiscuss the indirect benefits testing produces within the classroom.10. BENEFIT 9: TESTING PROVIDES FEEDBACK TO INSTRUCTORSSo far our discussion on the benefits of testing has focused on howtesting can have an impact on the learning and memory of students in theclassroom. However, classroom testing can do more than help studentslearn: testing can provide teachers with valuable feedback about whatstudents do and do not know, and teachers in turn can encourage studentsto change their study behavior. Although these points may seem obvious,they are often overlooked benefits of using frequent testing in theclassroom.Tests and quizzes in the classroom are perhaps one of the most importantways in which teachers can formally assess the knowledge of theirstudents, but of course homework can be used for this purpose, too.Testing is typically seen as an evaluation of what students have learned,and indeed this is true. Conscientious teachers will pay attention to howstudents perform on tests and use that knowledge to inform their teachingin the future. If many students fail a particular topic on the test, it may be asign to spend more time covering that material next time or use a differentapproach to teaching the materials. Teachers can also learn how individualstudents perform and what the students’ respective strengths and weaknessesare. In turn, teachers can use that information to guide furtherinstruction.Teachers often drastically overestimate what they believe their studentsto know (Kelly, 1999) and testing provides one way to improve a teacher’sestimation of their students’ knowledge. The problem of ‘‘the curse ofknowledge’’ permeates education. That is, instructors (especially those