Students can learn unfamiliar material from an initial lesson and from later practice questions. In a study, Elena Park and colleagues randomly assigned participants to watch one of two versions of the same recorded lesson. One version omitted several diagrams that explained key processes; the other included all the diagrams. On a quiz immediately after the lesson, participants who viewed the version with omitted diagrams scored lower. During the following week, all participants had access to the same bank of practice questions with corrective feedback. On a test after the practice period, the two groups performed similarly. The researchers proposed that the similar test performance did not mean the diagrams were unimportant; rather, practice with feedback compensated for the initial disadvantage caused by the missing diagrams.
Which finding from a follow-up experiment, if true, would most directly support the researchers' proposal?
For command-of-evidence questions, translate the researchers' explanation into a testable prediction. Then select the finding that demonstrates the complete proposed relationship—not merely that a resource is helpful, but that it specifically offsets the identified disadvantage. Controlled interventions generally provide more direct support than associations do.
Hints
Focus on compensation
Evidence that practice questions are helpful in general is not enough. Look for evidence connecting them specifically to the similar later performance of the two lesson groups.
Consider a direct test
Ask what comparison would show whether the later practice was masking the disadvantage caused by the missing diagrams.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the proposed explanation
The researchers must explain why the group that initially learned less from the lesson later performed as well as the group that saw all the diagrams. Their explanation is that practice with feedback offset the initial disadvantage.
Determine the predicted evidence
If practice supplied that compensation, removing access to it should affect the omitted-diagram group more strongly and cause the initial disadvantage to reappear on the later test.
Match the prediction to the choices
The finding that withholding practice creates a performance gap, while full practice access eliminates that gap, provides the predicted evidence. It connects the practice questions specifically to the omitted-diagram group's improvement.