Pre-Instructional Minitests: An Efficient Solution to the Problem of Covering Content

Abstract

This article is aimed at achieving two purposes: (a) challenging the common and often unrecognized assumption that the only way to ensure that students are exposed to course concepts is by personally going over the material in class and (b) describing how minitests (i.e., individual test -+ group test -+ appeals -- instructor input) can be used to ensure that students master basic content in a fraction of the class time that would normally be devoted to lectures. Other benefits of minitests are also described. These include increased focus on higher-level thinking and problem-solving skills, development of students' interpersonal and group interaction skills, and providing students with experience as a member of an effective team.