Weekly goal cards, checklists and notes made students more keen to learn

The study

1. 01

   Who took part

   600 tech students at one university in China took part. They were split into two groups of 300. All of them stayed to the end.

2. 02

   What they did

   For a 19-week term, one group wrote goals on a card each week and ticked off key tasks on a checklist. Teachers asked short questions about their goals. They also wrote a short journal 2 or 3 times a term and talked it over in small groups once a month. The other group had normal teaching.

3. 03

   What happened

   At the end of term, the goal card group said they were much more keen to learn for its own sake. Their final exam scores were a bit higher too: about 80 on average, against about 77. The gap in how keen they felt is so big that it is hard to believe. The parts can't be told apart.

What the study found

1. HelpedMotivation

   Students who set weekly card goals, used a checklist and kept journals felt much more keen to learn than others.

   • Action: Set a specific goaltested
   • Action: Track your progresstested
   • Rule: Practise with a groupused

   Randomised trial of 600 engineering students at a Chinese university · vs students who had normal teaching · they rated themselves · ⚠ results look too good to be true

2. HelpedGoals

   Students who used the goal cards and checklists scored about 80 on the final exam, against 77 for the others.

   • Action: Set a specific goaltested
   • Action: Track your progresstested
   • Rule: Practise with a groupused

   Randomised trial of 600 engineering students at a Chinese university · vs students who had normal teaching · they rated themselves · ⚠ results look too good to be true

Source