The Quiz Game: Writing and Explaining Questions Improve Quiz Scores

Abstract

The quiz game is designed to increase learning by requiring students to write a multiple-choice question on each reading assignment and explain why each response is correct or not. To test the game's effects, one developmental psychology class wrote questions with explanations of each response, whereas another class did not write questions. Both classes took pop quizzes composed of the 10 best questions the experimental class wrote. If more than half of the experimental class missed a question, the question writen received bonus points. The experimental class had significantly higher quiz scores than the control class, even when grade point averages were statistically controlled. The questions' formal correctness predicted quiz scores, but their conceptual quality did not. Perhaps explaining each response elaborated the experimental students' conceptual network, resulting in improved quiz performance.