Summary Of Journal Article By Karpicke And Blunt

In a journal article by Karpicke and Blunt (2012), two experiments were performed upon undergraduate students in order to test the effectiveness of retrieval learning versus elaborative study with concept mapping, on the student’s long-term ability to retain science material. In the opinion of many educators and students alike, most likely as a result of folk psychology, the assumption is that elaborative learning techniques are far more effective for long-term retention of material in comparison to the retrieval or self-testing learning technique (Karpicke & Blunt 2012, pp. 772). The aim of Karpicke and Blunt’s (2012) journal article is to test this assumption. In experiment one, four test conditions were set in which eighty undergraduate

772-773). The results of this test proved that both the elaborative studying with concept mapping and retrieval techniques were highly effective on the students ability to recall material. However, the students who partook in the retrieval condition of study “Represented about 50% improvement in long-term retention scores,” (Karpicke & Blunt 2012, pp.773) Indicating it to be the condition of study with the greatest benefit to the students in long-term retention. In the second experiment , Karpicke and Blunt (2012) aimed to replicate these findings while also improving upon their ability to be generalised. They did this by including material to be studied with differing structures of knowledge as well as observing the relative effectiveness of the retrieval learning technique compared with the use of elaborative study done by a student as an individual. Using this method with a sample of 120 students, each student would study one piece of material using retrieval practice and then another piece of material using the method of concept

Another change to the experiment that they implicated, was dividing the student participants, at the end of the week of study, into two halves to perform two different kinds of tests in order to assert their long term retention of their set material. One half would complete a test that was the same as the test in experiment one, a short answer test. The second half of participants took a test that required them to use the concept mapping method to show their knowledge of the material. By applying this change Karpicke and Blunt (2012) ruled out the possibility that by using a final test that was similar to the retrieval method of study(like in experiment one) they were giving the retrieval students an advantage (Karpicke & Blunt 2012, pp. 773-774). The findings of this second experiment also showed that the retrieval method was a more successful study technique for long-term retention, replicating their results in experiment 1. Even in the test that required the students to use concept mapping, the material that was studied using the retrieval method was evidently more successfully retained. It was found that, “Overall, 101 out of 120 students (84%) performed better on the final test after practising retrieval than elaborative studying with concept mapping.” (Karpicke & Blunt 2012,