Syntes: The optimal learning strategy depends on learning goals and processes: Retrieval practice versus worked examples (2019)

Källa: https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000268 (Journal of Educational Psychology 111(1), 73–90)

Verified content

• [abstract] Remembering the text of a worked example: repeated testing beat repeated studying one week later.
• [abstract] Learning a new maths procedure: repeated studying was better on an immediate test; one week later testing matched studying with non-identical practice problems and beat studying with identical problems.
• [full text] Experiment 2 (20 per cell; identical cover story, new numbers): practice time matched (6 min per learning trial; with feedback, 4 min solving plus 2 min studying the worked solution). One week later: repeated studying 41.3% of problems solved, repeated testing without feedback 71.3%, with feedback 70.0%; both testing groups beat studying (d = .89 each). At 5 minutes no significant difference (74.4%, 56.9%, 73.1%; p = .085).

Limits

• [full text] Experiment 1 (non-identical problems) gave no feedback; Experiments are short lab sessions with one procedure (Poisson probability word problems), undergraduates, 20 per cell.
• [assessment] Part of the 7-study maths retrieval-vs-restudy pool in Murray, Horner & Göbel 2025.

Added 2026-10-18 by the project (nightly attack run). [abstract] = from the published abstract; [full text] = read in the full text; [assessment] = the project's own assessment.