Need an Idea for Tomorrow’s Lesson Plan? Try a Quiz

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Here's a fair idea for tomorrow's lesson plan, regardless of what you teach: a low-stakes quiz. And I'm talking old school here: you ask the students 5-10 questions on what they've learned, and they answer the questions. Here's a recent quiz I gave in a world history class:

I give the quiz orally, and I type in the questions as I give it.

• The orally part allows me to elaborate on the shorthand I use in the written questions.
• The written part gives students a visual, allows them to revisit questions they are stuck on during the quiz, makes it easier to give the quiz in subsequent hours, and is available as a unit review tool in our course slideshow.

But wait, Dave. Why is this a good idea for tomorrow's lesson? You don't even know what I teach!

It all has to do with the power of tests. (This is one of the principles in the Principles of Learning Course, which is open for enrollment now and includes an end-of-course certificate for 15 hours of completed PD.*)

The power of tests? Yes. Let's look at some findings from the research. (Reference list will be at the bottom of the article.)

Reason 1: After learning material, which is better for retaining the material long term:

• A) Going over the material again (rereading, reteaching)
• B) Taking a test on the material

It's B, all day. [1]

Reason 2: Even better, your quizzes don't need to be comprehensive. Tests even help with recall of untested material. [2]

Reason 3: Testing doesn't just help with retaining information previously learned — it helps with retaining related information to be learned tomorrow. This is known as the forward effect of testing. [3]

Reason 4: And finally, quizzes help a student see what they know versus what they are familiar with. In other words, a quiz gets students out of the Familiarity Trap.

So, that's a lot of a bang for your buck. But before you give it a shot, a few practical pointers.

A few practical pointers before you give that quiz tomorrow

First, you want it to be low-stakes — meaning, bombing or aceing the quiz shouldn't have much of an impact on a student's grade. I ensure this by:

• Making the quiz a classwork grade, not an assessment grade. After all, I'm giving the quiz not to assess student knowledge but to facilitate learning.
• Giving frequent quizzes so that they become normalized in both the grade book and in my students' minds. A quiz is an activity for learning, just like reading and annotating an article, or taking notes, or writing a warm-up response.

Second, teach the students why you are doing it. One of the most common secondary and postsecondary learner pitfalls is that they prefer suboptimal study methods. Things like rereading, “going over notes,” rewatching instructional videos — these produce the Familiarity Trap and are a waste of time compared to quizzing. My students need to be taught and shown this many times over a school year.

And third, note that the quizzing effect can be produced through various means. I create it through things like the scrap paper quiz (screenshot of my slide is above), giving students 2-3 short answer questions to complete as their daily warm-up, or even giving my students a unit review pop-up debate prompt (below is a screenshot of a recent pop-up debate that was aimed at this).

So if you're stuck on what to do in class tomorrow, consider making quizzing a part of the lesson. It is a powerful tool.

Best,

DSJR

*Check with your institution to ensure that a certificate issued by me will “count” as continuing ed in your setting. I'm not accredited or anything like that. I've heard from many folks who have gotten my certificates to “count” for PD but also some who haven't. So double check.

References:

1. Yang, C., Luo, L., Vadillo, M. A., Yu, R., & Shanks, D. R. (2020). Testing (quizzing) boosts classroom learning: A systematic and meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin. (currently available at https://gwern.net/doc/psychology/spaced-repetition/2021-yang.pdf)
2. Chan, J. C., McDermott, K. B., & Roediger III, H. L. (2006). Retrieval-induced facilitation: initially nontested material can benefit from prior testing of related material. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 135(4), 553. (currently available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/6708733_Retrieval_induced_facilitation_Initially_nontested_material_can_benefit_from_prior_testing)
3. Pastötter, B., & Bäuml, K. H. T. (2014). Retrieval practice enhances new learning: the forward effect of testing. Frontiers in psychology, 5, 286. (currently available at https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00286/full?fbclid=IwAR0f9kDstcGK6c76px0xj9LxYMe39WWCQ7C5SFXCoQ3n0vBC9bj4q-S_CG0)