Test-Enhanced Learning and Incentives in Biology Education

Cognitive scientists have recommended the use of test-enhanced learning in science classrooms. Test-enhanced learning includes the testing effect, in which learners’ recall of information encountered in testing exceeds that of information not tested. The influence of incentives (e.g., points received) on learners who experience the testing effect in classrooms is less understood. The objective of our study was to examine the effects of incentives in a postsecondary biology course. We administered exams in the course using a quasi-experimental design with low and high point incentives and measured student learning. Although exposure to exams predicted better learning, incentive level did not moderate this effect, an outcome that contradicted recent laboratory findings that higher incentives decreased student recall. We discuss possible explanations of the disparate outcomes as well as the implications for further research on the testing effect in postsecondary biology classrooms.