Note: This is cross-posted with my Education Blog.
Mounting evidence suggests that quizzes can help students learn. Now researchers think they know one reason why: Students who take quizzes seem to think up better ways of remembering information than students who simply study.
One way students remember information is by creating mediators: clues or mnemonic devices that link words or ideas. To be effective, a mediator has to be easy to remember and able to elicit the information the student is trying to learn…
Research suggests that mediators are a particularly effective study tool. The duo posited that students who take quizzes develop better mediators than students who simply study.