Cristina Manatschal, Department of Biochemistry

Questions are central to thinking, since they allow us to speculate about possibilities and to go beyond the given information. Questions enable us to understand how the answers are connected and give rise to the next questions. Likewise, several studies indicate that engaging students into formulating good questions increases their depth and breadth of knowledge and fosters their intrinsic motivation to learn. We have therefore asked biochemistry students to develop exam questions about the topics of lectures of a third-year bachelor course. The questions had to be technically correct, unambiguously formulated, should assess understanding and help their peers improve learning. In contrast to previous studies, where these questions were mainly used as a self-assessment tool, students also had to systematically evaluate their questions in a student-conducted assessment based on the defined criteria giving rise to their final grades for the course. We accompanied the entire process and evaluated the students’ motivation level and learning outcome. We found that formulating and solving questions of peers was generally very motivating, while the task of ranking questions of peers is less motivating and was perceived to be very challenging. The majority of students felt they learned at least as much, and more than half of the students felt they even learned more or way more about the topics as compared to learning for a traditional exam. Interestingly, many students also stated that additionally they learned to think critically and see other points view, to provide own insights and solutions into a group, communicate and collaborate with others and to think more deeply and with greater complexity, all of which are key competences for a successful professional development inside and outside academia.

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