Welcome to a discussion on a simple yet incredibly powerful technique to boost your learning and retention: prequestions. Often overlooked, the prequestion effect is a phenomenon supported by cognitive science research that shows asking students questions about learning material before they encounter it significantly enhances their learning. Think of it as preparing your brain, or “priming” it, to absorb new information more effectively.
What Exactly Are Pquestions and How Do They Work?
To understand their impact, let’s look at how researchers study them. A typical prequestion study involves two groups: a Prequestion Group and a Control Group. The Prequestion Group receives questions about the material before engaging with it, while the Control Group does not. After the learning activity, both groups take a post-test, and their performances are compared, particularly focusing on how well the Prequestion Group remembers both prequestioned and non-prequestioned material.
So, why is merely attempting to answer these questions, even if you’re just guessing, so effective? The sources suggest several key reasons:
- Activates prior knowledge—Prequestions help awaken what you already know, creating a mental foundation.
- Creates a framework—They build a structure for new incoming information, making it easier to integrate and retain.
- Focuses attention—Prequestions direct your focus to the most relevant information within the learning material. Eye-tracking studies confirm that students spend more time re-reading and concentrating on prequestioned information. They also tend to incorporate this specific information into their notes.
- Reduces mind wandering—Crucially, prequestions appear to decrease mental distractions during lectures, leading to improved learning outcomes.
The Double Benefit: Specific and General Learning
Prequestions offer two distinct types of benefits to your learning:
- Specific benefit—This occurs when prequestions enhance the learning of the exact information they address. For example, if a question asks about the year the U.S. Declaration of Independence was drafted, learners are more likely to remember that specific fact.
- General benefit—Interestingly, prequestions can also improve the learning of related information that wasn’t directly covered by the questions. While less consistent than specific benefits, this “spillover” effect demonstrates the broader impact of priming your brain. Multiple-choice prequestions are particularly good at producing both specific and general benefits because they encourage a wider focus on related information as students consider all options.
Where Do Prequestions Shine? Versatile Applications
The beauty of prequestions lies in their versatility. They’ve been shown to enhance learning across a variety of materials, including reading passages, videos, and lectures. Their effectiveness has been observed in diverse subjects such as science, history, psychology, and engineering. It’s important to note that prequestions work best for factual and conceptual information that is explicitly stated in the learning material. They may not be as helpful for material requiring complex inference or interpretation.
Bringing Prequestions into the Classroom and Beyond
For educators, implementing prequestions is straightforward. Teachers can present them on whiteboards, in presentations, or through online quizzes before a lesson begins. A powerful follow-up strategy is to revisit the questions at the end of the lesson for feedback and clarification, reinforcing the learning.
Conclusion
Whether you’re a student aiming to boost your retention or an educator looking for an effective pedagogical tool, incorporating prequestions is a technique worth considering. By proactively engaging your brain with questions, you can unlock a more efficient and profound learning experience.