THINKER'S ALMANAC - June 7

Although students don’t like them, why is a pop quiz actually a good thing?

Subject:  Study Strategies - Testing Effect

Event:  Premier of the television quiz show The $64,000 Question

There is always a place I can take someone's curiosity and land where they end up enlightened when we're done. That's my challenge as an educator. No one is dumb who is curious. The people who don't ask questions remain clueless throughout their lives. -Neil deGrasse Tyson

On this day in 1955, the quiz show the $64,000 Question premiered on CBS.  Today we take game shows for granted, but in the early days of television, these shows were high stakes dramas that mesmerized the television audience and posted record ratings.  The $64,000 Question spawned a number of successful imitators:  The Big Surprise, Dotto, Tic Tac Dough, and Twenty One.

                                                                Image by Garaz from Pixabay

The success of the quiz shows ended, however, in 1958 when a scandal surfaced where evidence showed that the results of the shows were rigged.  As a result, the quiz show craze died, and the networks stopped airing them (1).  Quiz shows did not gain favor with the public again until the 1960s when shows like Jeopardy began to attract viewers. (see THINKER’S ALMANAC - March 20).  At this point, the “quiz shows” were rebranded as “game shows.”

It is interesting that tracking down the history of the word “quiz” has left lexicographers somewhat quizzical.

One story involves James Daly, a theater manager in Dublin.  In 1791, Daly supposedly made a bet with a friend, saying he could introduce a new word into the language within a single day.  He then created the nounce -- or nonsense word “quiz” and paid people to write the word in chalk on walls throughout the city.  By the end of the day, the word was on everyone’s lips (2).

Although this is a good story, it probably is not true.  Instead, the word “quiz” is probably just a clipped version of the word “inquisitive,” an adjective meaning “unduly curious and inquiring.”

While the origin of the word “quiz” might not be certain, one thing is fairly clear:  in school, most students are not big fans of quizzes.  Counterintuitively, however, educational researchers have documented quizzes, or testing, as one of the best ways to retain learning.  The testing effect -- also known as retrieval practice -- is a learning strategy where students practice recalling what they have learned by writing it down or reciting it out loud without looking at their notes.

In a 2011 study, students were evaluated on their ability to retain and apply information from a reading passage.  Some students simply read the passage, others read and re-read the passage, and a third group read the passage, and then paused periodically to practice retrieval by writing down what they remembered without looking back at the passage.  

The results of the study revealed when students were tested one week after reading the passages, the group that applied retrieval practice as a strategy not only remembered more but was also better able to apply their knowledge to new contexts (3).

The testing effect works because the conscious effort of retrieving information builds connections in the brain and strengthens memory.  The process of forgetting and remembering also provides feedback.  While re-reading a passage can create an illusion of understanding, the active process of retrieving the information without notes provides the students with metacognitive feedback:  via retrieval without notes, students can determine what they truly know versus what they need to study further.

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is the testing effect, and what evidence shows its effectiveness?

Challenge - One Week In June:  A Quiz

Based on your reading of the seven entries for June 1 through 7, write seven quiz questions that can be answered with one or two word answers.

Sources:

1-The Museum of Broadcast Communications. “$64,000 Question.”

2-Manswer, Martin.  The Guinness Book of Words (2nd Edition).  Middlesex:  Guinness Publishing Ltd., 1988.

3-Karpicke, Jeffrey D. and Janell R. Blunt. “Retrieval Practice Produces More Learning than Elaborative Studying with Concept Mapping.”  Science, Volume 331, Issue 6018 11 Feb. 2011.