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ERIC Number: EJ1473239
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Dec
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: EISSN-2056-7936
Available Date: 2025-06-05
Counting Days Is a Spacing Incentive That Unlocks the Potential of Low GPA Students
Iman YeckehZaare1,2; Paul Resnick3
npj Science of Learning, v10 Article 35 2025
Spacing and retrieval practice enhance learning, but students often underuse these strategies. We tested a simple grading incentive, which we call Counting Days, in two RCTs: one randomizing 143 students within a course and another randomizing 71 instructors. The "counting questions" control condition awarded points for each practice question answered, while the "counting days" treatment assignment awarded points for each day that a student answered a set of questions. In the within-class experiment, the counting days group earned higher exam scores, mediated by spacing practice over more days. Spacing was especially beneficial for lower-GPA students: the correlation between course exam scores and GPA in prior courses was significantly lower for the counting days group. In the between-instructor experiment, there was no way to compare learning outcomes between instructors, but both the number of days and a number of questions practiced were significantly higher under the counting days condition.
Nature Portfolio. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://www.nature.com/npjscilearn/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT Center for Collective Intelligence, Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, USA; 2Honor Education, Research, San Francisco, USA; 3University of Michigan, School of Information, Ann Arbor, USA