User:Alexpkin/sandbox

this is my sandbox drafting edits to testing effect lead

Research in multiple settings suggests that the act of retrieving information from memory actually improves how well that information is retained in memory over a longer term. In educational settings, testing traditionally refers to the assessment of learning, but the testing effect refers to practice testing that takes place as part of the learning process. The term retrieval practice is used by some researchers to distinguish practice testing from assessment testing because the latter has a negative connotation among educators.

Early findings The idea that practice testing helps learning has been around for a long time and has been described by Francis Bacon and William James The first documented empirical study on the testing effect was published in 1917 by Gates.

Recent developments/findings An important step in proving the existence of the testing effect was presented in a 1992 study by Carrier and Pashler. Carrier and Pashler showed that testing practice does not just provide an additional practice opportunity, but produces better results than other forms of studying. In their experiment, learners who tested their knowledge during practice later remembered more information than learners who spent the same amount of time studying the complete information. Carrier and Pashler study did not reveal a very large advantage of testing over studying, but paved the way for numerous further studies that have shown a more marked advantage.