View Content #21951

By Julie Sykes, CASLS Director

Imagine Sarah, a strong student who is always in class, participates, and is motivated to do well in her German class.  The week before the chapter exam she is really busy and ends up only finding time to really study the night before.  She is up late learning the material for the test and, when it’s done, feels like she did pretty well, but may also have missed some things. The next few days she thinks about the test, but after that just waits for the grade and focuses elsewhere.  A week later, her instructor returns the test. She has a score of 91/100. Sarah is happy with the grade. She spends a few minutes looking at the places she made mistakes and then returns the exam to her teacher as requested, never to be thought of again until she calculates her final grade in the class. She remembers some of what she learned a week ago, but also is missing some as well.

While the exam served the purpose of measuring what Sarah knew of the chapter content at that moment, additional reflection and work with the chapter test after it was taken would have afforded her the opportunity to learn additional material and use her mistakes for learning. Fail states can be a powerful learning tool.  In addition, it would have required her to return to the material she had “crammed” the week before to recycle the content and connect it to what she is currently learning.  With limited classroom time, it often feels like there is no time to return to something that has already been addressed, but a number of short reflective activities can be implemented in the classroom to enhance the learning experience. A few examples are given here:

1. Learners can be asked to take their test home and, for each incorrect response, use a different color pen or pencil to redo the activities and find the answer. Then, in class, they can work with a partner to ensure all test items have been corrected accurately. This second step allows learns to work together to negotiate any discrepancies and help eliminate the temptation to just make quick corrections and forget about it.
2. Learners can be asked to complete a reflective learning journal in which they are asked to analyze their success (or lack there of) using three key questions –Based on your performance, (1) what are three things you know really well and will likely remember long term?, (2) what are three things you knew then that are not as clear now?, and (3) what do you still not know at all and need to revisit. These journals can then become part of the overall evaluation score of the test.
3. Learners can be asked to write a new test item (with the answer key) for the section in which they did the worst.  In this way, they are required to reconsider what they need to know and work with the material. Then, as a warm-up in class, students can be asked to take each other’s test items and compare their test items with answer key.

Regardless of the technique used, any effort to engage students with the test beyond the grade can enhance learning and add additional opportunities for growth.  Happy reflecting!