Measuring "learning" has always been a tricky business, but the meta-cognition folks are making progress, I think. Consider the 2nd experiment in this project, which showed that students who took a "test"--specifically, they wrote an essay about the reading from memory--were actually better at putting together a concept map a week later than students who had put together a concept map with the material in front of them. This suggests that memory itself is an important conceptual exercise--not exactly new news, but new in this context. Also, I'd note that this experiment did not focus on rote learning, or even tests as most of us understand them, but on reading comprehension and information retrieval, so one needn't interpret the results as evidence supporting a return to the bad old days of repetition and regurgitation. However, it's certainly given me pause about some of my own in-class assignments.
Best, dgwebster On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 1:18 PM, VanDeveer, Stacy <[email protected]>wrote: > FYI > > > http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/science/21memory.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=general&src=me > > > > > > > > > > > > *Stacy D. VanDeveer* > *Associate Professor* > > *University of New Hampshire* > Dept. of Political Science > Horton SSC > Durham, NH 03824 USA > > [email protected] > > tel: > fax: > mobile: > Skype ID: > > (+1) 603-862-0167 > <http://www.plaxo.com/click_to_call?lang=en&src=jj_signature&To=%28%2B1%29+603%2D862%2D0167&[email protected]> > (+1) 603-862-0178 > (+1) 781-321-5880 > <http://www.plaxo.com/click_to_call?lang=en&src=jj_signature&To=%28%2B1%29+781%2D321%2D5880&[email protected]> > stacy.vandeveer > > > > Want to always have my latest > info?<https://www.plaxo.com/add_me?u=51539758810&src=client_sig_212_1_banner_join&invite=1&lang=en> > > Want a signature like > this?<http://www.plaxo.com/signature?src=client_sig_212_1_banner_sig&lang=en> > > > > > > > > [image: Description: ia_25th_blucmyk_500] > > > > [image: Description: facebook-logo] > -- D.G. Webster Assistant Professor Environmental Studies Program Dartmouth College 6182 Steele Hall Hanover, NH 03755 phone: 603-646-0213 http://www.dartmouth.edu/~envs/faculty/webster.html
