ABSTRACT
Suppose that I asked a group of people to read a passage on how the Nitrogen Cycle works. Further, suppose that I subsequently tested the readers on retention and application. For retention, I could ask about important conceptual information (conceptual retention) and about unimportant details (other retention); also, I could measure whether students remember the word-by-word verbatim aspects of the passage (verbatim retention). For application, I could ask questions that require putting several pieces of information together (far transfer) or that require using one piece of information directly from the passage (near transfer). Examples are shown in Table 8.1. Example Test Items https://www.niso.org/standards/z39-96/ns/oasis-exchange/table">
Conceptual Retention
In response to instructions to recall the passage, the subject writes: “Atmospheric nitrogen is converted into ammonia by the process of fixation, ammonia is converted to nitrate by the process of nitrofication, nitrate is converted to protein by assimilation or into atmospheric nitrogen by denitrification, and protein is converted into ammonia by ammonification.”
Other Retention
In response to instructions to recall the passage, the subject writes: “Molecular nitrogen makes up about 78% of the earth’s atmosphere. It is the fourth major element found in living tissues after carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen.”
Verbatim Retention
Which of the following sentences appeared word-for-word in the passage that you just read?
“Overfertilized lakes may become entirely clogged by dense concentration of algae.”
“When a lake is overfertiled, it may become completely clogged by heavy concentration of algae.”
Far Transfer
Why do farmers rotate crops?
Near Transfer
What is the result of the fixation process?
