An Information Retention Example

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Discussion:

Here is a classic example. At one time, I was teaching a series of 3 x 10-week information security classes, one right after the other, and had the same small cohort of students in each. The students were at the 300-level of instruction, so presumably they had mastered study and listening techniques, and I would consider those students as generally average quality.

Now one of the key concepts of networking [and one relevant to security] is that of a *socket*: a location in system RAM containing the IP address and TCP port of the current network session. This would have been a concept to which the students were introduced in their basic networking class, which I taught, and which the students in these security classes should/would have learned.

In my Day 1 review of fundamentals, I was quite surprised that none of the students knew what a socket was, so I recapitulated that portion of the lecture, and told the students that there would be a question on the mid-term exam relating to sockets. As part of the mid-term review, I went over the concept of sockets again. Almost all the students got the question on sockets wrong on the exam, so I made a point of going over it in the hot washup after the exam, and mentioned that it would be on the final exam. When I did the final exam review, I mentioned that there would be a question on sockets, and reviewed the concept. And almost to a man, the students failed to answer the sockets question correctly.

In the subsequent two classes, I stressed the importance of the concept, pointed out it would be on the exam, reviewed it before the exam, and went over it in the hot washup. At the end of the third class, when the students would have been exposed to the concept of topics a minimum of 18 times in 33 weeks, over 70% of the students still got the question wrong!!

Now I submit that resistance to learning on this scale is almost heroic, and I cannot imagine how the students actually did it. If you repeated something to me 18 times over the course of 33 weeks, even if I did not care about it, I could not help but remember it, but these students managed such a feat.

Moreover, the exams were open-book, open-computer, and the students were allowed to use notes and search the InterNet.

I still shake my head over this....

At my 4-year university, I often muse on how I could access the building plans for the classrooms, because I am sure each classroom door has a special field built into it that causes the students' minds to be wiped of all their classroom experience when they exit the room. Here is a classic example. At one time, I was teaching a series of 3 x 10-week information security classes, one right after the other, and had the same small cohort of students in each. The students were at the 300-level of instruction, so presumably they had mastered study and listening techniques, and I would consider those students as generally average quality. Now one of the key concepts of networking [and one relevant to security] is that of a *socket*: a location in system RAM containing the IP address and TCP port of the current network session. This would have been a concept to which the students were introduced in their basic networking class, which I taught, and which the students in these security classes should/would have learned. In my Day 1 review of fundamentals, I was quite surprised that none of the students knew what a socket was, so I recapitulated that portion of the lecture, and told the students that there would be a question on the mid-term exam relating to sockets. As part of the mid-term review, I went over the concept of sockets again. Almost all the students got the question on sockets wrong on the exam, so I made a point of going over it in the hot washup after the exam, and mentioned that it would be on the final exam. When I did the final exam review, I mentioned that there would be a question on sockets, and reviewed the concept. And almost to a man, the students failed to answer the sockets question correctly. In the subsequent two classes, I stressed the importance of the concept, pointed out it would be on the exam, reviewed it before the exam, and went over it in the hot washup. At the end of the third class, when the students would have been exposed to the concept of topics a minimum of 18 times in 33 weeks, over 70% of the students still got the question wrong!! Now I submit that resistance to learning on this scale is almost heroic, and I cannot imagine how the students actually did it. If you repeated something to me 18 times over the course of 33 weeks, even if I did not care about it, I could not help but remember it, but these students managed such a feat. Moreover, the exams were open-book, open-computer, and the students were allowed to use notes and search the InterNet. I still shake my head over this....

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