Spaced recall quizzing significantly improves overall post-test performance on fundamental mathematics without harming learning of current material¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · causal r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2024 · checked against its sources 2026-10-19 (automated, 2 of 2 entries) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? The treatment group scored significantly higher than the control group on the full 50-question post-test (72.4% vs 68.5%). → Lindquist 2024 q3 i? Treatment and control groups performed similarly on the quarter three final exam covering current material (74.9% vs 76.4%, not significant), indicating lost instructional time did not hurt new learning. → Lindquist 2024 (2)

Evidence¶

Lindquist 2024¶

Lindquist, D. S., Sparrow, B. E., & Lindquist, J. M. (2024). Spaced recall reduces forgetting of fundamental mathematical concepts in a post high school precalculus course. Instructional Science, 52, 859-878. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-024-09680-w

q3 · i? · causal · r2

Analysis of the full 50-question multiple-choice post-test administered 6 months after quarter one instruction in the same randomized USMAPS experiment (N=128). The article reports "The p-value of 0.011"; no effect size is printed.

"The treatment group's mean score (72.4%) is higher than the control group's (68.5%) and is statistically significant at the 0.05 level. We compared mean scores using a conservative hypothesis test that examined if the true population mean scores were the same. The p-value of 0.011 provides significant evidence that this hypothesis is implausible."

Lindquist 2024 (2)¶

Lindquist, D. S., Sparrow, B. E., & Lindquist, J. M. (2024). Spaced recall reduces forgetting of fundamental mathematical concepts in a post high school precalculus course. Instructional Science, 52, 859-878. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-024-09680-w

q3 · i? · causal · r2

Comparison of quarter three final exam (open response, group-graded) scores between treatment and control groups in the same experiment. The difference was not statistically significant; equivalence was not formally tested. No effect size is printed.

"Although the control group's mean score ( 76.4% ) is slightly above the treatment group's ( 74.9% ), a t-test that examined if the two groups performed the same produced a p-value of 0.400. This provides evidence that the mean quarter three final exam scores were similar between the two groups indicating that both groups understood the new concepts equally well"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Weekly spaced recall quizzes on fundamental concepts significantly improve 6-month retention of those concepts in a precalculus course — related
• Random assignment produced treatment and control groups balanced in mathematical preparedness before the intervention — related
• Spaced recall quizzing improves long-term retention even when immediate feedback is not provided — related
• Retrieval practice improves long-term retention — a broader claim this one bears on
• Retrieval practice and spaced retrieval improve achievement and retention by medium amounts, while interleaving helps category learning only for some materials and blocking beats it for words — a broader claim this one bears on