Spaced retrieval practice is an evidence-based learning technique that has the potential to improve student learning and memory in undergraduate courses. However, studies in STEM courses are limited, and results from available studies are inconsistent [1]. This paper presents such a study in an introductory physics course for engineering students, answering the following research question: Does spaced retrieval practice improve engineering student learning in physics? Students answered quiz questions that were administered in massed and spaced conditions throughout the semester, and then took a criterial test at the end of the semester. Results showed that spacing significantly improved student performance, with a mean gain of 3.4% in the spaced condition over the massed condition. This result is particularly interesting because a null effect of spacing was previously obtained in a similar physics course taken by non-engineering students [2]. Potential implications are discussed.

This full-length, research-to-practice paper discusses an ongoing NSF project aimed at implementing spaced retrieval practice in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) classes. By implementing evidence-based learning practices in the classroom, educational performance, and thereby retention and graduation rates, are thought to be improved. Retrieval practice refers to the repeated recall of information from memory to increase the information’s future accessibility. Retrieval practice can be massed or spaced. In massed practice, all acts of recall occur during a single short temporal window. In spaced practice, acts of recall are temporally distributed. This project implements spaced retrieval practice in STEM barrier courses in the fields of biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, physics, and psychology. The current dissemination focuses on spaced retrieval practice in one section of Calculus for Engineers and two sections of Fundamentals of Physics I, with similarly delivered implementations. Spaced retrieval practice significantly improved student performance in calculus but not in the two sections of physics. Potential explanations for these results are discussed, as well as implications.

This Full-Length Research Paper investigates the difficulty imposed by spaced retrieval practice in nine introductory Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses. By improving student performance in these courses, evidence-based pedagogical practices have the potential to increase graduation and success in STEM fields. Spaced retrieval practice is a technique in which questions on the same topic are asked repeatedly over time with intermittent delays. Spacing may initially make retrieval more difficult because it requires learners to recall information from long-term as opposed to short-term memory. However, this difficulty may ultimately be “desirable” because spacing often produces memory benefits in the long-term. The current paper examines the difficulty imposed by spaced retrieval in the nine STEM courses, using data collected from a 3-year project funded by the National Science Foundation. Results indicated that the magnitude of the difficulty imposed by spacing varied widely across the diverse STEM barrier courses. We anticipate that we will find similarly wide variability in the effectiveness of spaced retrieval practice in students' final learning outcomes, which will be investigated in future work.

This WIP Research Paper investigates the temporal nature of the difficulty imposed by spacing. Spaced retrieval practice is an evidence-based strategy for improving memory and consists of asking multiple questions on a topic with intermittent delays. Spacing is often thought to impose difficulty by making questions harder to answer. However, this difficulty may be desirable, since spacing ultimately improves memory. In this paper, we (a) outline an implementation of spaced retrieval practice in an engineering mathematics classroom, (b) describe the development of an SQL database to organize and manage the large and complex dataset, and (c) discuss a brief but interesting dive into the rich data we have collected. Statistical analyses revealed that, when three questions targeting the same topic are spaced over multiple quizzes, versus being massed on a single quiz, students are less likely to answer the first and second questions correctly. Spacing does not affect students' ability to answer the third questions. This suggests that spacing may impose difficulty when students are first learning to perform mathematical operations, rather than when they are trying to retrieve memories of how to perform those operations.

This Full-Length, Research-to-Practice paper discusses intrinsic requirements that may challenge instructors if they attempt to implement spaced retrieval practice in their courses. During the first year of National Science Foundation (NSF) grant #1912253, project leaders led nine Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) instructors through a series of five interactive workshops to develop learning objectives and quiz questions. Most of the STEM instructors had to redefine their existing, multifaceted learning objectives into more specific objectives with an appropriately fine grain-size for the practice. They also worked to develop multiple questions that test the same objective with (1) comparable difficulty and (2) similar cognitive processes. Project leaders noticed that a within-subjects, counterbalanced study design presents additional challenges to implementation. Instructors were able to work around difficulties during break-out sessions in workshops and in one-on-one sessions, especially when given examples from their own discipline in one-on-one feedback.In this paper, we first describe the current state of spaced retrieval practice research and the purpose and plan of our active NSF grant. We then detail the implementation requirements we have discovered. Lastly, we summarize our findings with bullet-point, STEM-practitioner-centered statements about implementing spaced retrieval practice in the classroom. Identifying potential challenges of implementation and solutions to these challenges is an important step in getting the powerful memory tool of spaced retrieval practice into the STEM classroom.

This Full-Paper in the Research Category analyzed longitudinal data from the University of Louisville's J. B. Speed School of Engineering to better understand the relationship between 1) progression and performance in the required mathematics courses for all engineering majors, 2) retention in engineering (year 1 and year 2) and 3) persistence to graduation. Analysis revealed that engineering students who complete the required sequence of four mathematics courses have a 93% graduation rate. What we call math completion is a compelling statistic when compared to the more common first year retention metric, which in our case, leads to a graduation rate of 68%. While few student's complete math by the second fall semester, many students do complete math during the second fall semester, allowing math completion to be a comparable and possibly more relevant metric than first- and second-year retention rates. This paper further investigated paths to mathematics sequence completion, finding that the first mathematics course (Calculus I or Precalculus) and first-semester mathematics grade are significant predictors of math completion, and hence graduation.

Mathematics learning is critical in STEM degrees. In engineering specifically, advanced courses depend on the derivation and application of higher-order equations, and long-term retention of early mathematical concepts is mandatory. Cognitive science research has shown that learning and memory can be improved with simple manipulations of material retrieval. One major finding has been that increasing retrieval practice improves material retention more than restudying the material (the retrieval-practice effect). Independently, spacing retrieval over time is known to improve material retention (the spacing effect). To date, no research has studied these two effects in conjunction. This NSF-funded study investigated retrieval practice and spacing in an engineering mathematics classroom. Separately, increasing retrieval practice and increasing spacing both improved final exam performance. In combination, they produced the greatest learning gains.