In two studies of children aged 10–12 and 9–13, students were more likely to study vocabulary on days they received a mobile-app study reminder than on days they did not¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 2 studies · 2 causal r2 · q3 · i1 small
Currency · newest study 2024 · checked against its sources 2026-10-26 (automated, 2 of 2 entries) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i1 Within the Reminder Group, receiving a reminder on a given day increased the probability of studying vocabulary that day (OR = 1.77). → Lea Nobbe 2024

q3 i? In an intensive longitudinal micro-randomized study, 130 children aged 9–13 were more likely to use a vocabulary app on days with a reminder prompt than on days without one. → Breitwieser 2024

Evidence¶

Lea Nobbe 2024¶

Lea Nobbe, Jasmin Breitwieser, Daniel Biedermann & Garvin Brod. (2024). Smartphone-based study reminders can be a double-edged sword. npj Science of Learning 9:40. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-024-00253-7

q3 · i1 · causal · r2

Within-person encouragement design in a preregistered intervention with 85 students aged 10–12; logistic mixed-effects model on daily log-file data from a vocabulary learning app compared reminder and no-reminder days. The study found "a signi ficant positive effect of Reminder" with OR = 1.77, 95% CI [1.32, 2.37].

"we found a signi ficant positive effect of Reminder on students ’ likelihood to study vocabulary on a given day (b = 0.57, 95% CI [0.28, 0.826], χ2(1) = 14.39, p < 0.001). On average, stu- dents in the Reminder Group were more likely to study on days they received a reminder ( OR = 1.77, 95% CI [1.32, 2.37])."

Breitwieser 2024¶

Breitwieser, J., Neubauer, A. B., Schmiedek, F. & Brod, G. (2024). Realizing the potential of mobile interventions for education. npj Science of Learning, 9, 76. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-024-00289-9

q3 · i? · causal · r2

Intensive longitudinal micro-randomized study in which 130 children used the PROMPT app and a vocabulary app over 36 days, answering daily experience-sampling questions with reminders randomly delivered on some days. Findings reported from Fig. 2b.

"Our results showed that children were more likelyto study with the vocabulary app on days with a prompt compared to days without prompt (Fig. 2b). These findings suggest that the prompt had a causal effect on study behavior."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Students who received study reminders did not study more frequently overall than control students who never received reminders — related
• The likelihood of studying on reminder-free days decreased more rapidly over time for reminded students than for control students (non-significant exploratory trend) — related
• On days without reminders, reminded students were significantly less likely to study vocabulary than control students, suggesting overreliance on reminders — related
• The short-term effect of study reminders on same-day studying increased over the study period — related
• Within-person reminders of implementation intentions improve students' short-term study behaviour — related
• Micro-randomized trials estimate within-person causal effects of mobile intervention components with greater statistical power than standard RCTs — a broader claim this one bears on
• Micro-randomized trials with mobile data allow explicit testing of time-varying contextual moderators of intervention effectiveness — a broader claim this one bears on
• Breathing exercise showed no main effect on children's negative affect or relaxation but increased relaxation on higher-worry days (UPWIND trial) — related
• One-third of surveyed students never used the optional mobile study app at all — related