Low-Stakes Writing in an Active-Learning Classroom Needs Focus and Feedback to Be Effective

Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals

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Writing Assignments; Active Learning; Feedback (Response); Instructional Effectiveness; Learner Engagement; Content Area Writing; Grade Point Average; Economics Education; Calculus; Foreign Countries; Multiple Choice Tests

10.1080/00220485.2022.2075505

0022-0485
2152-4068

Evidence suggests that active engagement with material as it is being taught improves learning. In-class multiple choice questions are a common way to introduce active learning. Low-stakes writing is another. The author of this article provides evidence that using a content-based low-stakes writing prompt with immediate group feedback during the lecture improves test performance relative to a multiple choice question covering the same content. Students with low CGPAs performed better on the midterm with the intervention, while higher-CGPA students performed better on writing assignments. Adding a traditional unfocused one-minute exit ticket to a class already using in-class problem-solving had a small but negative effect on student learning. This suggests that content-focused low-stakes writing with immediate feedback complements problem-solving in an active classroom.

As Provided

2023

EJ1392781