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The New York Times reports on a recent study further confirming the benefits of regular, low-stakes testing. Benefits included grade and attendance improvements compared to a former class of equal size and notable improvements among students from lower-income households.

Suggestions for ways to introduce "desirable difficulties" into classes - those activities or organizational strategies which cause students to shift gears and contextualize their learning, thus making it stronger and longer-lasting.

People learn best when they are forced to retrieve the information and concepts repeatedly over time but most people haven't learned to study in ways that do this. Consequently, it may be more effective to move from the common practice of giving a few, high-stakes tests to giving numerous low stakes quizzes to assess and improve learning.

I was particularly interested by the finding that mind wandering which is related to the subject may actually be good for learning - if you ask the questions which encourage the students to wander that way.

How can you write test questions which both assess learning and promote it?