Teaching students reported higher stress and mental effort during the intervention than comparison groups¶

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 The teaching group reported higher stress while learning than the notetaking and explaining groups. → Sarah Shi Hui Wong 2026 q3 i2 The teaching group reported investing more mental effort than the notetaking group but not more than the explaining group. → 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

Exploratory analysis of post-studying phenomenological ratings in the same experiment: stress differed across groups, F(2, 239) = 4.79, p=.01, with "d = 0.43 and 0.40" for teaching versus notetaking and explaining; the notetaking and explaining groups did not differ from each other.

"the teaching group reported higher stress when learning about the subject matter than the notetaking and explaining groups, both ps = .01, d = 0.43 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 · i2 · causal · r2

Mental effort ratings also differed across groups, F(2, 239) = 3.85, p=.02, with "d = 0.43" for teaching versus notetaking; the teaching-versus-explaining contrast did not reach significance. No other phenomenological items showed significant differences, all ps>.05.

"the teaching group reported investing more mental effort than the notetaking group, p=.01, d = 0.43, but not the explaining group, p=.13, d = 0.25"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Explaining and teaching both improve basic comprehension relative to notetaking, but do not differ from each other — related
• Prior knowledge and intervention condition predict repeated cognitive load and interest measures: prior knowledge lowers effort and difficulty and raises interest and understanding, and prompting groups perceive tasks as more difficult — related