Does highlighting a passage actually help you remember what you read? You give ten participants three essays of equal difficulty on separate days. For the first essay, no one highlights anything. For the second, you pre-highlight the key points before handing it out. For the third, participants highlight on their own.
Each time, participants study for two hours and then answer twenty questions after a thirty-minute break. The group that highlighted on their own scored only slightly better than the other two groups.
This project tests whether the popular study habit of highlighting makes a real difference in recall.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis is that the participants will perform better in the tests when they highlighted their own essays.
The way you interact with information while studying affects how well you bring it back later. Highlighting may seem helpful, but testing shows mixed results. When participants studied three essays under different conditions, the group that highlighted on their own scored only slightly better than those who read without any highlighting at all.
Highlighting is a popular study habit, but does it actually help recall? Ten participants read three essays of equal difficulty on separate days. For the first essay, no one highlights. For the second, key points are pre-highlighted before the essay is handed out. For the third, participants highlight on their own. Each time, they study for two hours and answer twenty questions after a thirty-minute break. The group that highlighted on their own scored only slightly better than the other two groups.
Highlighting adds a visual layer to text, turning plain words into color-marked cues. Ten participants read three essays of equal difficulty. For one essay, key points are pre-highlighted before handing it out. The group that highlighted on their own scored only slightly better than the other two groups, suggesting that visual marks alone do not guarantee stronger recall.
Highlighting is one of the most common ways people review what they read — but does it actually help recall? Ten participants each read three essays of equal difficulty on separate days. For one essay, no one highlights anything. For another, key points are pre-highlighted before handing it out. For the third, participants highlight on their own. Each time, they study for two hours and then answer twenty questions after a thirty-minute break. The group that highlighted on their own scored only slightly better than the other two groups.
Method & Materials
You will select 10 students aged 12 years old to take part in this experiment. You will give them each a copy of the essay to read for a period of 2 hours. After that, you will collect the essays and allow the participants a 30 minute break. Then, you will assemble the 10 students in the exam hall and give them the questions for the essay. They will be allowed 1 hour to complete the test.
You will need 3 essays of equal difficulty, 20 questions about each essay, model answers for the 3 essay questions, 10 students aged 12 years old each, a stopwatch, a quiet examination room, and 10 highlighters.
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The results showed that the students who were asked to highlight what they read performed only slightly better in the test. The hypothesis that the participants will perform better in the test when they highlighted their own essays has not been conclusively proven to be correct.
Why do this project?
This science project is interesting because it tests the effects of highlighting on memory. It is also unique because it uses a variety of materials, such as highlighters, essays, and questions, to test the hypothesis.
Also Consider
Experiment variations include testing the effects of using different color highlighters on test results, or using participants of a different age group.
Full project details
Additional information and source material for this project are available below.
