Prequestions do not enhance the benefits of retrieval in a STEM classroom
Open accessAbstract
Answering questions before a learning episode-"prequestions"-can enhance memory for that information. A number of studies have explored this effect in the laboratory; however, few studies have examined prequestions in a classroom setting. In the current study, the effects of prequestions were examined in an undergraduate course in chemical engineering. At the start of several class meetings, students were provided with a prequestion to answer about the upcoming lesson, and then were asked to provide ratings of confidence in their answers, familiarity with the content in the prequestion, and how much of the assigned reading they had completed. At the end of class, students were given the same question again (postquestion), along with a different question from the same lesson (new question). On a quiz at the end of each week, students were given the postquestions and new questions again, in addition to never-before-seen questions (quiz-only questions) from the same lessons. Performance on questions at the end of class revealed no difference in performance for postquestions vs. new questions. Although weekly quiz performance revealed an effect of retrieval practice-superior memory for material tested at the end of class (postquestions and new questions) compared to material not tested (quiz-only questions)-there was no difference in weekly quiz performance on postquestions vs. new questions. These results suggest that retrieval practice is beneficial to learning in the classroom. However, prequestions do not appear to enhance learning, nor to enhance the effects of retrieval practice.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In those two studies, on delayed assessments, students performed no better on items introduced as prequestions and then postquestions than on items only presented as postquestions.
“On delayed assessments, students performed no better on items that had been introduced as prequestions (and then again as postquestions) when compared with items that had only been presented as postquestions at the end of lectures.”
From ManyClasses 2: The effects of prequestions on media interactions and learning. (2026) · cites this paper as Geller et al., 2017
In the two experiments where no prequestion effect was observed, the classes also included additional interactive elements.
“In the two experiments where no prequestion effect was observed, the classes also included additional interactive elements (team-based learning activities in Geller et al., 2017; and postquestions in Carpenter, Rahman, & Perkins, 2018), and this has led researchers to reasonably assume that the effect of prequestions may be muf fl ed by other concomitant learning activities.”
From ManyClasses 2: The effects of prequestions on media interactions and learning. (2026) · cites this paper as Geller et al., 2017
Studies conducted in authentic education environments have produced scant and inconsistent evidence of benefits of prequestions.
“but studies conducted in authentic education environments have produced scant and inconsistent evidence of such bene fi ts.”
From ManyClasses 2: The effects of prequestions on media interactions and learning. (2026) · cites this paper as Geller et al., 2017
Of contemporary experimental studies conducted in authentic education settings, one observed benefits of prequestions for student learning, while two observed no reliable benefit.
“Of the contemporary experimental studies conducted in authentic education settings, one has observed bene fi ts of prequestions for student learning (Soderstrom & Bjork, 2023), while two have observed no reliable bene fi t (Carpenter, Rahman, & Perkins, 2018; Geller et al., 2017).”
From ManyClasses 2: The effects of prequestions on media interactions and learning. (2026) · cites this paper as Geller et al., 2017
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013) · Psychological Science in the Public Interest · doi:10.1177/1529100612453266 · Cited by 3,138 · see citing works
Self-Regulated Learning: Beliefs, Techniques, and Illusions
Bjork, R. A., Dunlosky, J., & Kornell, N. (2013) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143823 · Cited by 1,468 · see citing works
The effect of testing versus restudy on retention: A meta-analytic review of the testing effect.
Rowland, C. A. (2014) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0037559 · Cited by 1,066 · cited 5× · see citing works
“…(e.g., Carpenter, 2012; Dunlosky et al., 2013; Karpicke, in press; Kornell & Vaughn, 2016; McDermott et al., 2014; Roediger, Agarwal, et al., 2011; Rowland, 2014), and to a smaller but ever-increasing literature demonstrating these effects in classrooms (Butler et al., 2014; Carpenter, Pashler, &…”
BackgroundResultInfluentialRepeated testing produces superior transfer of learning relative to repeated studying.
Butler, A. C. (2010) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition · doi:10.1037/a0019902 · Cited by 492 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Higher-level understanding and transfer of the tested concepts was not assessed in the current study, although there is some evidence that retrieval can promote this type of knowledge as well (e.g., Butler, 2010; Carpenter, 2012).”
BackgroundStudy strategies of college students: Are self-testing and scheduling related to achievement?
Hartwig, M. K., & Dunlosky, J. (2012) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-011-0181-y · Cited by 477 · cited 1× · see citing works
“A common belief amongst students and teachers is that testing serves primarily as an evaluative tool, as a “dipstick” to assess what one knows and does not know (Hartwig & Dunlosky, 2012; McAndrew, Morrow, Atiyeh, & Pierre, 2016; Morehead, Rhodes, & DeLozier, 2016).”
BackgroundWhen Does Feedback Facilitate Learning of Words?
Pashler, H., Cepeda, N. J., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2005) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition · doi:10.1037/0278-7393.31.1.3 · Cited by 445 · see citing works
McDaniel, M. A., Agarwal, P. K., Huelser, B. J., McDermott, K. B., & Roediger, H. L. (2011) · Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0021782 · Cited by 360 · cited 6× · see citing works
“If the length and complexity of information presented in authentic course environments is a contributing factor to the attenuation of prequestion effects, then the current study might be expected to yield results similar to those of McDaniel et al. (2011).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialUsing tests to enhance 8th grade students' retention of U.S. history facts
Carpenter, S. K., Pashler, H., & Cepeda, N. J. (2009) · Applied Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1002/acp.1507 · Cited by 254 · see citing works
Self-citationInstructor and student knowledge of study strategies.
Morehead, K., Rhodes, M. G., & DeLozier, S. (2016) · Memory · doi:10.1080/09658211.2014.1001992 · Cited by 230 · see citing works
Retrieval-Based Learning: A Decade of Progress
Karpicke, J. D. (2017) · Learning and Memory: A Comprehensive Reference · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-809324-5.21055-9 · Cited by 223 · see citing works
The effect of prequestions on learning from video presentations.
Carpenter, S. K., & Toftness, A. R. (2017) · Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.jarmac.2016.07.014 · Cited by 87 · cited 3× · see citing works
“In addition, some research shows that under some circumstances the prequestion group retains non-prequestioned information better than the control group (Carpenter & Toftness, 2017), suggesting that prequestions may serve to enhance overall processing of the material.”
BackgroundResultSelf-citationDoes incorrect guessing impair fact learning?
Kang, S. H. K., Pashler, H., Cepeda, N. J., Rohrer, D., Carpenter, S. K., & Mozer, M. C. (2011) · Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0021977 · Cited by 67 · cited 2× · see citing works
“Assuming that the learning gains from practice questions would be enhanced when feedback is provided (Carpenter, Sachs, Martin, Schmidt, & Looft, 2012; Fazio, Huelser, Johnson, & Marsh, 2010; Finn & Metcalfe, 2010; Kang et al., 2011; Pashler, Cepeda, Wixted, & Rohrer, 2005), practice questions on two occasions might b…”
BackgroundSelf-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 33
- Ackerman PL Kanfer R Beier ME Trait complexity, cognitive ability, and domain knowledge predictors of baccalaureate success, STEM persistence, and gender differences Journal of Educational Psychology 2013 105 911 927 10.1037/a0032338 · DOI
- Berlyne DE An experimental study of human curiosity British Journal of Psychology 1954 45 256 265 13219284
- Berlyne DE Uncertainty and epistemic curiosity British Journal of Psychology 1962 53 27 34 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1962.tb00811.x 13867957 · DOI
- Bull SG Dizney HF Epistemic curiosity arousing prequestions: Their effect on long-term retention Journal of Educational Psychology 1973 55 45 49 10.1037/h0034817 · DOI
- Butler AC Marsh EJ Slavinsky JP Baraniuk RG Integrating cognitive science and technology improves learning in a STEM classroom Educational Psychology Review 2014 26 331 340 10.1007/s10648-014-9256-4 · DOI
- Carpenter SK Testing enhances the transfer of learning Current Directions in Psychological Science 2012 21 5 279 283 10.1177/0963721412452728 · DOI · Paper page
- Carpenter SK Lund TJS Coffman CR Armstrong PI Lamm MH Reason RD A classroom study on the relationship between student achievement and retrieval-enhanced learning Educational Psychology Review 2016 28 2 353 375 10.1007/s10648-015-9311-9 · DOI
- Carpenter SK Sachs RE Martin B Schmidt K Looft R Learning new vocabulary in German: The effects of inferring word meanings, type of feedback, and time of test Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 2012 19 81 86 10.3758/s13423-011-0185-7 22135107 · DOI
- Fazio LK Huelser BJ Johnson A Marsh EJ Receiving right/wrong feedback: Consequences for learning Memory 2010 18 335 350 10.1080/09658211003652491 20408043 PMC4073309 · DOI · Paper page
- Finn B Metcalfe J Scaffolding feedback to maximize long-term error correction Memory & Cognition 2010 38 951 961 10.3758/MC.38.7.951 20921107 · DOI
- Goossens NAMC Camp G Verkoeijen PPJL Tabbers HK Zwaan RA The benefit of retrieval practice over elaborative restudy in primary school vocabulary learning Journal of Applied Research in Memory & Cognition 2014 3 177 182 10.1016/j.jarmac.2014.05.003 · DOI
- Horn S Hernick M Improving student understanding of lipids concepts in a biochemistry course using test-enhanced learning Chemistry Education Research & Practice 2015 16 4 918 928 10.1039/C5RP00133A · DOI
- Jaeger A Eisenkraemer RE Stein LM Test-enhanced learning in third-grade children Educational Psychology 2015 35 513 521 10.1080/01443410.2014.963030 · DOI
- Jefferys H Theory of probability 1961 3 Oxford Clarendon Press
- Karpicke JD Blunt JR Smith MA Karpicke S Retrieval-based learning: The need for guided retrieval in elementary school children Journal of Applied Research in Memory & Cognition 2014 3 198 206 10.1016/j.jarmac.2014.07.008 · DOI
- Kornell N Vaughn KE How retrieval attempts affect learning: A review and synthesis Psychology of Learning & Motivation 2016 65 183 215 10.1016/bs.plm.2016.03.003 · DOI
- Little JL Bjork EL Multiple-choice pretesting potentiates learning of related information Memory & Cognition 2016 44 7 1085 1101 10.3758/s13421-016-0621-z 27177505 · DOI · Paper page
- McAndrew M Morrow CS Atiyeh L Pierre GC Dental student study strategies: Are self-testing and scheduling related to academic performance? Journal of Dental Education 2016 80 5 542 552 27139205
- McDaniel MA Anderson JL Derbish MH Morrisette N Testing the testing effect in the classroom European Journal of Cognitive Psychology 2007 19 494 513 10.1080/09541440701326154 · DOI · Paper page
- McDaniel MA Wildman KM Anderson JL Using quizzes to enhance summative assessment performance in a web-based class: An experimental study Journal of Applied Research in Memory & Cognition 2012 1 18 26 10.1016/j.jarmac.2011.10.001 · DOI · Paper page
- McDermott KB Arnold KM Nelson SM Perfect TJ Lindsay DS The testing effect The SAGE handbook of applied memory 2014 Thousand Oaks SAGE Publications 183 200
- Peeck J Effect of prequestions on delayed retention of prose material Journal of Educational Psychology 1970 61 3 241 246 10.1037/h0029104 · DOI
- Pressley M Tanenbaum R McDaniel MA Wood E What happens when university students try to answer prequestions that accompany textbook material? Contemporary Educational Psychology 1990 15 1 27 35 10.1016/0361-476X(90)90003-J · DOI · Paper page
- Pyburn DT Pazicni S Benassi VA Tappin EM The testing effect: An intervention on behalf of low-skilled comprehenders in general chemistry Journal of Chemical Education 2014 91 12 2045 2057 10.1021/ed4009045 · DOI
- Richland LE Kornell N Kao LS The pretesting effect: Do unsuccessful retrieval attempts enhance learning? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied 2009 15 3 243 257 19751074
- Rickards JP Anderson MC McCormick CB Processing effects of common-word and number questions inserted in reading materials The Journal of Educational Research 1976 69 7 274 277 10.1080/00220671.1976.10884897 · DOI
- Roediger HL III Agarwal PK McDaniel MA McDermott KB Test-enhanced learning in the classroom: Long-term improvements from quizzing Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied 2011 17 382 395 22082095
- Roediger HL III Putnam AL Smith MA Mestre JP Ross BH Ten benefits of testing and their applications to educational practice The psychology of learning and motivation: Cognition in education 2011 San Diego Elsevier 1 36
- Roediger HL III Pyc MA Inexpensive techniques to improve education: Applying cognitive psychology to enhance educational practice Journal of Applied Research in Memory & Cognition 2012 1 4 242 248 10.1016/j.jarmac.2012.09.002 · DOI
- Rouder JN Morey RD Default Bayes factors for model selection in regression Multivariate Behavioral Research 2012 47 877 903 10.1080/00273171.2012.734737 26735007 · DOI · Paper page
- Rouder JN Speckman PL Sun D Morey RD Iverson G Bayesian t-tests for accepting and rejecting the null hypothesis Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 2009 16 225 237 10.3758/PBR.16.2.225 19293088 · DOI · Paper page
- Szpunar KK Jing HG Schacter DL Overcoming overconfidence in learning from video-recorded lectures: Implications of interpolated testing for online education Journal of Applied Research in Memory & Cognition 2014 3 161 164 10.1016/j.jarmac.2014.02.001 · DOI
- Szpunar KK Khan NY Schacter DL Interpolated memory tests reduce mind wandering and improve learning of online lectures Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2013 110 6313 6317 10.1073/pnas.1221764110 PMC3631699 23576743 · DOI · Paper page
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Learning from errors: Students' and instructors' practices, attitudes, and beliefs
Pan, S. C., Sana, F., Samani, J., Cooke, J., & Kim, J. A. (2020) · Memory · doi:10.1080/09658211.2020.1815790 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Pan, S. C., & Carpenter, S. K. (2023) · Educational Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10648-023-09814-5 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Self-citationManyClasses 2: The effects of prequestions on media interactions and learning.
Motz, B. A., Chinni, A., de Leeuw, J. R., Jankowski, H. E., Aggarwal, A., Amato, M., Berlin, K., Britten, K., Brown, A., Cerchiaro, M. L., et al. (2026) · Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1037/edu0000978 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
The Effect of Prequestions on Learning: A Multilevel Meta-Analysis
King-Shepard, Q. W., Walker, J., Nokes-Malach, T. J., Carpenter, S. K., & Fraundorf, S. H. (2025) · Educational Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10648-025-10075-7 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Geller, J., Carpenter, S. K., Lamm, M. H., Rahman, S., Armstrong, P. I., & Coffman, C. R.
- Affiliations
- University of Alabama at Birmingham (US)
- Iowa State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Carpenter, Shana K.
- Venue
- Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications
- Published
- 2017-10-25
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 42-42
- ISSN
- 2365-7464 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5655599
- OpenAlex
- W2762011871
- Cited by
- 35
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 1.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Cognitive Research Principles and Implications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Iowa State University Digital Repository (Iowa State University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (DUE-1504480)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Education › Innovative Teaching Methods
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes
- Keywords
- retrieval practice, memory enhancement, classroom learning, STEM education, chemical engineering education, confidence ratings, familiarity, quiz performance, metacognition
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
