Systematic spaced practices to promote error detection and override

Recent findings suggest that even those students who demonstrate relevant formal knowledge tend not to use it productively, especially on tasks that elicit intuitively appealing incorrect responses. Dual-process theories of reasoning suggest that to catch a mistake, reasoners must engage in error detection and override: recognize reasoning red flags, consider alternatives, and apply relevant knowledge to check their validity. It is, however, challenging for many novice physics learners to recognize what specific formal knowledge must be used as a criterion that needs to be satisfied for validating or rejecting a response. To help students develop skills necessary for error detection and override, we designed a sequence of systematic spaced practices in the context of Newton's 2nd law. We examined the effectiveness of this approach and identified specific factors that contribute to more productive engagement in error detection and override.