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S23 Front-Page February

Front-Page February

Students rate passive learning instruction higher than active learning instruction.

#1 - True: Students feel they learn more when taught in the passive style, but actually learn more in the active class.

Effort, rather than achievement, should be commended by teachers.

#2 - True: Commending achievement alone leads students to link intrinsic ability to their success. Commending effort links success to the amount/quality of effort put into something. This helps to develop a growth (rather than fixed) mindset, leadint to greater student perseverance and encourages students to undertake more academic risks.

It is better to show a student a worked out problem than have them figure it out themselves.

#3 - True: For new tasks, showing worked out examples leads to better learning.

Brainstorming should be done individually before being done as a group activity.

#4 - True: Research suggests that brainstorming is more effective at developing creative ideas when individuals brainstorm their own ideas and then share them collectively as a group.

Encouraging students to have a growth mindset on their own is an effective way for them to develop a growth mindset. (False: 44% correct)

#5 - False: Research indicates that guided training and interventions are the best way to change student mindsets. Having students link strategies they can control to academic success (rather than inherent ability) is key to developing a growth mindset, as opposed to simply putting up posters or encouraging a positive outlook.

Having students focus on memorizing information is an ineffective instructional strategy. (False: 44% correct)

#6 - False: Research shows that robust knowledge stored in long-term memory engages students in higher order thinking tasks. Active memory retains less information for less time than expected.

Students learn better under pressure. (False: 67% correct)

#7 - False: Learning is actually impaired when experiencing high stress. Stress can negatively impact learning outcomes.

Helping students develop executive functioning improves learning and benefits all students, even strong ones. (True: 93% correct)

#8 - True: The ability to plan, execute, and adjust tasks, monitor processes, and determine an endpoint are all examples of executive functioning. These skills are universally beneficial. Our brain continues to develop into our mid-20s, indicating an ability for potential student improvement through neuroplasticity.

The responsibility for learning is equally shared by student and teacher. (False: 8% correct)

#9 - False: A large meta-analysis of data suggests 50% of the variance in learning is due to students, 25% is due to teachers, and 25% from other sources.

Going to bed and waking up early to study is better than staying up late to finish studying. (False: 25% correct)

#10 - False: When we sleep, we consolidate memories and strengthen learning. Sleep after studying, even taking naps, helps learning.

Having a student take a quiz before they have studied is a waste of time. (False: 93% correct)

#11 - False: Quizzes help prepare students to learn material and can be useful even before studying. In addition, quizzes can be used before and after class to confirm students are attending with, and acquiring a certain level of vocabulary and conceptual knowledge.

Handwriting notes and typing notes in class are equally effective. (True: 25% correct)

#12 - True: Based on a number of studies testing for the superiority of handwriting or laptops, no definite evidence currently exists one way or the other.

Memory doesn't record what we see exactly. (True: 80% correct)

#13 - True: Due to the various types of memory and our ability to process memories, our memories are generally not exact. We fill in gaps of our memories through reconstruction and assimilation, so there is always a level of distortion in our actual memories.

Teachers should actively coach students to use self-testing for test preparation. (True: 100% correct)

#14 - True: Research suggests that active recall methods, such as self-testing, are more successful for students compared to rereading notes alone.

Coaching multitasking helps students be more efficient. (False: 50% correct)

#15 - False: Multitasking is generally dentrimental to learning. The brain divides attention when we go back and forth between tasks, and the transaction cost of this back and forth leads to less efficiency.

All new learning passes through the filter of prior knowledge. (True: 88% correct)

#16 - True: Although there are huge human variances, all new learning filters through prior knowledge and experiences.

Students using free Open Educational Resources (OERs) perform as well as students using textbooks from commercial publishers. (True: 63% correct)

#17 - True: A study with trained graduate student instructors at a large research-intensive university showed students using OERs demonstrated a slight increase in content knowledge when using an OER text.

People are dominantly left or right brained, determining whether a person is more creative or logical. (False: 88% correct)

#18 - False: Left/right brain dominance is a myth. Multiple areas on both sides of the brain work together in synthesis in all thinking tasks. This is aided by the corpus callosum which links the sides of the brain.

Before students can climb Bloom's taxonomy to think critically, they must first understand and remember. (False: 30% correct)

#19 - False: Contrary to popular intuition about higher order learning and Bloom's taxonomy, building a foundation of knowledge via fact-based retrieval practice may be less potent than engaging in higher order retrieval practice.

Flashcards primarily help students evaluate or monitor what they already know versus what they need to restudy. (False: 0% correct)

#20 - False: Retrieval practice has a direct effect of increasing retention by boosting memory for what is studied.

Aspen Prize: Finalist

Aspen Prize: Finalist

Georgia Highlands College named one of the TOP 10 FINALISTS
for the 2025 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence.