Explaining and teaching both improve basic comprehension relative to notetaking, but do not differ from each other¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · causal r2 · q3 · i2 medium
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i2 Both the explaining and teaching groups displayed better comprehension performance than the notetaking group. → Sarah Shi Hui Wong 2026 q3 i? The explaining and teaching groups did not significantly differ in comprehension performance. → Sarah Shi Hui Wong 2026 (2)

Evidence¶

Sarah Shi Hui Wong 2026¶

Sarah Shi Hui Wong, Stephen Lim. (2026). The Powerful Teacher: A Power Hypothesis for the Benefits of Learning-by-Teaching. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-025-10097-1

q3 · i2 · causal · r2

Comprehension test (six short-answer questions, 12 points possible) in the same experiment: the method ANOVA was significant, F(2, 236) = 4.75, p=.01, with "d = 0.45 and 0.40" for explaining and teaching versus notetaking.

"Both the explaining (M = 5.96, SD = 2.49) and teaching (M = 5.90, SD = 2.82) groups displayed better comprehension performance than the notetaking (M = 4.84, SD = 2.45) group, p=.007 and .01, d = 0.45 and 0.40, respectively"

Sarah Shi Hui Wong 2026 (2)¶

Sarah Shi Hui Wong, Stephen Lim. (2026). The Powerful Teacher: A Power Hypothesis for the Benefits of Learning-by-Teaching. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-025-10097-1

q3 · i? · causal · r2

Pairwise comparison of teaching versus explaining on the comprehension test showed no significant difference; equivalence was not tested beyond this non-significant result.

"the explaining and teaching groups did not significantly differ in their comprehension performance, p=.89, d = −0.02"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Teaching students reported higher stress and mental effort during the intervention than comparison groups — related
• Writing teaching scripts or textbook explanations improves university students' create-level research question generation more than writing study notes for their own learning — related
• Learning conditions did not differ in total questions attempted, ruling out differential effort quantity as the source of create-question differences — related
• Self-explanation beats unguided studying for equal time, but instructional explanations, problem solving and retrieval practice can be equally or more effective — related