Preparing to Learn: Structuring the Basic Course to Increase Student Preparation and Learning

This manuscript investigates whether frequent quizzing might facilitate greater preparation and learning in the Basic Course and tests variations of frequent quizzing through a series of three separate studies in order to identify best practices for using such quizzes. The first study showed that students who were given frequent quizzes performed better on the final exam than students who were given a midterm. The second study showed that frequent online quizzes can be just as effective as frequent in-class quizzes. In the final study, students were given skeletal notes to fill out as they prepared for class, and the results showed that students who were allowed to use their notes performed better than those who could note use their notes on quizzes, but those who did not use their notes on quizzes performed better on the final exam and had greater long-term retention