In order to get an idea of the students' study practices, a survey was given at the beginning and end week of the class. It asked them questions about whether they employed spacing, self-testing, and/or other strategies. For data analysis, methods such as chi-square (to see whether students were URM or not and what study strategies they used), T-tests (to see the connection between use of study strategies and course grade), and ANOVA (to compare URM and non-URM students throughout the class) were used, among multiple other analysis methods. 

Survey and Analysis of Spacing/Self-Testing Study

The sample population for this study were students of a molecular biology course either in Spring 2016 (544 students) or 2017 (782 students). Students would be placed into either the intervention group (for study skills) or one of the control groups. The intervention used for this study involved a small lecture about the benefits of spacing and self-testing as well as reminders to use these methods for the class. 

University of California, Berkeley

One research study published in 2018 looks at how students tend to struggle in STEM courses, especially students of underrepresented minorities (URM). This study focuses on decreasing the achievement gap between URM (Latino, African-American, and Native American students) and non-URM (white and Asian students) groups by implementing interventions that impart studying strategies, such as spacing and self-testing, to see if the students' course grades improve. The reason for this intervention is to teach students who do not know how to study on their own how to do it effectively for STEM courses. 

Study Methods of Students in STEM Courses 

Rodriguez F, Rivas MJ, Matsumura LH, Warschauer M, Sato BK (2018) How do students study in STEM courses? Findings from a light-touch intervention and its relevance for underrepresented students. PLOS ONE 13(7): e0200767. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0200767

How do students study in STEM courses? 

As said in previous nodes, spacing is a studying method in which the student separates the time spend studying into multiple sessions over time, rather than cramming a few days before the test day. The student reviews the same material over a long period of time, which benefits long-term learning. 

Spacing in Studying

Methods of Research Study into Spacing/Self-Testing

Looking at the survey and the intervention of study skills used for the class, the following results were found:

- 56.7% of students reported they used spacing compared to 43.3% who used cramming
- most common study strategies used were self-testing and re-reading the textbook
- URM students were less likely to use self-testing (59% of URM students versus 66.4% of non-URM students)

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