Pretesting Enhances Learning in the Classroom

The current study examined whether the learning benefits of pretesting—like those produced by posttesting—generalize to classroom settings, and whether such benefits transfer to non-pretested related information. Before some lectures but not others, undergraduate students enrolled in a large research methods class were given a brief competitive multiple-choice pretest on topics that were then covered in a lecture occurring immediately following the pretest. The pretests were not seen by the lecturer. On a final exam that was given at the end of the academic term, it was found that pretesting enhanced learning of both pretested and non-pretested related material compared to control questions. On a follow-up questionnaire, students reported taking the pretests seriously and being generally aware when pretested topics were later discussed in the lectures. Furthermore, many students reported using the pretests to guide their own study behavior. Thus, a combination of two mechanisms—namely, increased attentional processing during class and enhanced self-regulated study outside of class—may have contributed to the current pretesting effect. Although much more research in this area is needed, our results suggest that students’ learning can profit from short, low-stakes, competitive multiple-choice pretests being deployed in the classroom.