Syntes: Gaining from explaining: Learning improves from explaining to fictitious others on video, not from writing to them (2016)

Källa: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2016.02.005 (Contemporary Educational Psychology 44–45, 95–106)

Verified content

• [full text] Material: a 1930-word text on conditional syllogistic reasoning; posttests asked for the answer and an explanation (learning items) plus Wason selection tasks (transfer).
• [full text] Experiment 1 (123 Dutch higher-education students, classroom setting, 2 × 2): study intention (test or explain) × second phase (8 minutes of cued recall then restudy, or explaining in writing to a novice). Immediate test: no main effect of study intention or explaining on learning or transfer. Delayed-test attendance was too low (n = 52) and was not reported.
• [full text] Experiment 2 (129 Dutch psychology undergraduates, individual cubicles; 117 analysed): test intention then short recall and restudy (n = 42), explanation intention then typed explanation to fictitious students (n = 43), or explanation intention then explaining on webcam video (n = 44); six minutes for the second phase; immediate and delayed posttests (procedure "almost identical" to Experiment 1, whose delayed test was planned one week later). Learning, pooled over both tests (ANCOVA, condition F(2, 113) = 3.71, p = .027; no Test Moment × Condition interaction, p = .191): writing did not beat restudy (means pooled over both tests 23.50 vs 22.03, p = .709, d = 0.193); video did (25.33, p = .023, d = 0.434); writing vs video p = .405. Delayed-test means (range 0–56): restudy 21.53, writing 22.17, video 24.66. Transfer: no condition effect (F < 1).
• [full text] The writing group invested more effort than restudy but reported much less often that they had enough time (M 2.86 vs 6.66 on 1–9).

Limits

• [full text] Lab material, university students, short sessions; restudy control included a short recall exercise; writing group felt short of time.
• [assessment] Bears on C15 (delayed-test benefit of explaining to others): a delayed-test null for written explaining, held with Lachner et al. 2021 and Lim, Wong & Lim 2021 as open question 13 (2026-10-20); not a narrowing on its own. Supports C15 for explaining on video.

Added 2026-10-20 by the project (nightly attack run, widened search for C15). [abstract] = from the published abstract; [full text] = read in the full text; [assessment] = the project's own assessment.