Assessing students at the end of lectures

Numerous studies in cognitive psychology reveal that testing after studying results in significantly greater long-term retention of information than repeated study by rereading texts. This is known as the testing effect. However, most of the studies on the testing effect involved pure memorization, and most of them were conducted in the laboratories of cognitive psychologists. In this presentation, we will discuss how assessments at the end of lectures can be used to motivate undergraduate students, both in lower-level and upper-level physics classes, to focus during lectures and to enhance their learning beyond memorization.