THE DIFFERENTIAL EFFECT OF INTERIM TESTING IN THE USE OF AN AUTO-INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM IN AN AREA OF GENERAL SCIENCE FOR TEACHERS / WILLIAM B. SHELL and JOHN D. TRIPP.

THE EFFECT OF INTERIM TESTING ON THE IMMEDIATE ACHIEVEMENT AND THE SUBSEQUENT RETENTION OF COLLEGE SCIENCE STUDENTS IS EXAMINED. EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS WERE RANDOMLY SELECTED FROM TWO INTACT GENERAL SCIENCE CLASSES FOR STUDENTS OF TEACHER EDUCATION. BOTH GROUPS WERE TAUGHT ATOMIC STRUCTURE AND BONDING THROUGH THE USE OF PROGRAMED MATERIALS. RESULTS OF PRETESTS FOR READING LEVEL AND SCIENCE ACHIEVEMENT WERE USED TO ESTABLISH ABILITY GROUPS. BOTH GROUPS WERE TESTED AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE INSTRUCTIONAL PERIOD, FOR SCIENCE ACHIEVEMENT, AND 6 WEEKS LATER FOR RETENTION. FIVE INTERIM TESTS WERE ADMINISTERED TO STUDENTS IN THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP. A QUESTIONNAIRE WAS USED TO ASCERTAIN STUDENT'S OPINIONS OF THE PROGRAM. ANALYSIS OF COVARIANCE WAS USED TO COMPARE POST-TEST ACHIEVEMENT AND RETENTION TEST SCORES. STUDENTS IN THE AVERAGE AND LOW ABILITY SUBGROUPS OF THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP MADE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER SCORES ON THE ACHIEVEMENT POST-TEST AND THE RETENTION TEST THAN DID STUDENTS IN SIMILAR SUBGROUPS OF THE CONTROL GROUP. EXPERIMENTAL STUDENTS IN THE HIGH ABILITY SUBGROUP WERE SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER ON ONLY THE RETENTION TESTS. STUDENT OPINIONS INDICATED THEY PREFERRED PROGRAMED INSTRUCTION FOR CERTAIN COURSE UNITS. (AG)

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