| Course | EDP 818 Cognitive and Affective Principles in Psychology |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 3 |
| Paper type | Doctoral memory paper |
| Length | About 1,018 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Doctor of Education |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for EDP 818 Module 3
Remembered Once, Forgotten by Friday: Memory Science for a Nurse Residency
Student Name
Doctor of Education Program, Aspen University
EDP 818: Cognitive and Affective Principles in Psychology
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Remembered Once, Forgotten by Friday: Memory Science for a Nurse Residency
New nurses in Dana's residency receive five days of orientation covering dozens of protocols, from sepsis screening to insulin administration. Quiz scores at the end of the week are high. A month later, when Dana, the director of clinical education, tested a sample of residents on the same protocols, scores had fallen by nearly half. At the same time, a review of a medication error had produced conflicting accounts from the nurses involved. Dana and the hospital are invented to teach the material. This paper applies memory research to both problems.
Retrieval Practice
Roediger and Karpicke (2006) asked students to study short prose passages. Some restudied the passages; others took recall tests on them without feedback. On a test five minutes later, restudying produced slightly better recall. On a test a week later, the pattern reversed: students who had practiced retrieval remembered substantially more. Students who restudied predicted they would remember more than those who were tested, misjudging which method worked. The study showed that retrieving information strengthens memory more than reviewing it, and that learners' sense of what works can mislead them.
Spacing
Cepeda et al. (2006) meta-analyzed studies of distributed practice in verbal recall tasks. Spacing study sessions apart produced better long-term retention than massing them together. The optimal gap between sessions depended on how long information needed to be retained: the longer the retention interval, the longer the best gap. For material that must be remembered for months, sessions spaced weeks apart were more effective than sessions on consecutive days.
Memory as Reconstruction
Loftus and Palmer (1974) showed students short films of traffic collisions and asked for each car's speed at the moment the vehicles "smashed," "collided," "bumped," "hit" or "contacted" each other. Participants given "smashed" gave higher speed estimates. When questioned again after a week, those given the most violent verb more often claimed to have seen broken glass, although there was none in the film. The study showed that memory is reconstructed at retrieval and can be altered by information introduced in questions.
| Memory risk | Example in the residency | Research | Remedy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Massed orientation week | Protocols taught once in five days | Cepeda et al. (2006) | Spaced refreshers at two, six and twelve weeks |
| Rereading as review | Residents reread protocol binders | Roediger and Karpicke (2006) | Short retrieval quizzes on the unit |
| Overconfidence after training | High end-of-week quiz scores | Roediger and Karpicke (2006) | Test retention at one month, not one day |
| Leading questions in incident reviews | "Why did you skip the double-check?" | Loftus and Palmer (1974) | Open questions; separate accounts first |
| Contaminated accounts | Nurses discuss the event before interviews | Loftus and Palmer (1974) | Prompt individual written accounts |
Redesigning Protocol Training
The research suggests that the orientation week's structure, massed presentation followed by an immediate quiz, maximizes short-term performance while producing fast forgetting. The redesign spreads protocol training across the first three months. Orientation introduces the most urgent protocols. Short retrieval quizzes, five questions on a tablet at the start of a shift, revisit protocols at increasing intervals, following Cepeda and colleagues. Answers come with feedback, which strengthens retrieval practice further. Retention will be tested at three and six months.
Reviewing Incidents
The medication error review showed a different memory problem. The nurses had discussed the event together before being interviewed, and the reviewer's questions assumed what had happened. Loftus and Palmer's findings suggest both practices can change what people remember. The hospital's incident procedure will now ask each person involved to write an individual account as soon as possible, before discussion, and reviewers will use open questions, such as "Walk me through what happened," rather than questions that presume an error.
Limits
The studies used students, prose passages and films. Clinical knowledge involves skills and judgment as well as recall, and simulation and practice remain essential. The remedies are well supported in principle and will be evaluated in the residency.
Why the Orientation Seemed to Work
The orientation week appeared successful because it was judged by an immediate quiz. Roediger and Karpicke (2006) found that restudying produced slightly better performance minutes after learning but worse performance a week later, and that learners believed restudying was more effective. The same illusion operated at the hospital: high end-of-week scores convinced educators and residents that the week worked. Testing retention at one month revealed the forgetting that the immediate quiz concealed. Desirable difficulties, conditions that make learning feel harder but produce more durable memory, such as spacing and retrieval, are easy to reject because they feel less productive at the time.
Working Memory at the Bedside
Memory problems in the residency are not only about forgetting over weeks. During a shift, new nurses must hold orders, values and plans in working memory while being interrupted. Baddeley's model of working memory, and research building on it, describes a limited system that holds and manipulates information for immediate use. When it is overloaded, information is lost and new learning is less likely to be stored. The redesign therefore pairs spaced retrieval with reduced load during learning: protocol refreshers happen at the start of shifts, before the unit is busy, and bedside teaching focuses on one skill at a time.
Measuring Retention
The residency will test a random sample of residents on core protocols at three and six months, comparing scores with the previous cohort, which received only orientation. It will also track protocol-related near misses. Residents' confidence ratings will be collected but not treated as evidence of retention, since the research shows learners' judgments can mislead.
Feedback After Retrieval
Retrieval works best when learners find out whether they were right. Each shift quiz will show the correct answer and a one-line reason immediately after the resident responds, so that errors are corrected before they are rehearsed.
Conclusion
Roediger and Karpicke showed that retrieval practice builds durable memory, Cepeda and colleagues showed that spacing improves long-term retention and Loftus and Palmer showed that memories are reconstructed and can be altered by questions. For the residency, spaced retrieval practice and careful incident interviewing apply the science of memory to two everyday problems.
References
Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354-380. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.3.354
Loftus, E. F., & Palmer, J. C. (1974). Reconstruction of automobile destruction: An example of the interaction between language and memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 13(5), 585-589. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-5371(74)80011-3
Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249-255. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.x
EDP 818 Module 3 instructions, in plain terms
Module 3 of EDP 818 usually asks for a paper on memory. Follow the Module 3 instructions in your Aspen course, keeping in mind that Dana's hospital is invented. Examine research on how memories are formed, retained and retrieved, describing key experiments accurately. Apply findings to a professional problem, such as training or recall of events. Explain memory as reconstruction as well as storage. Propose changes and say how they will be measured. Use APA 7, and distinguish what helps short-term performance from what builds durable memory, since the two often diverge. Where your setting relies on people's recollections, such as reports or interviews, explain how memory reconstruction could affect them and what procedures would protect accuracy.
How the EDP 818 Module 3 example is put together
Dana, the composite director of clinical education, finds that new nurses forget sepsis and insulin protocols taught in orientation week. Roediger and Karpicke compared repeated studying with repeated testing of prose passages and measured recall after five minutes and one week. Cepeda and colleagues' meta-analysis of distributed practice shows spaced sessions outperform massed ones, with the best gap growing with the retention interval. Loftus and Palmer found that asking how fast cars "smashed" rather than "hit" led to faster speed judgments and to memories of glass that was never there. A five-row table pairs risks with remedies, and the residency adds spaced retrieval quizzes and neutral incident interviews. Sections explain why the orientation quiz misled the hospital, how working memory limits affect learning at the bedside and how retention will be measured.
EDP 818 Module 3 rubric: what earns full marks
A strong memory paper explains why some study methods feel effective yet produce poor retention and applies research to real practice. This example uses the testing and spacing findings to redesign protocol training, noting that massed review feels productive while producing faster forgetting. The reconstruction research is applied to incident reviews, a less obvious but important use. Each remedy has a measure. The paper notes limits, including that many studies used students and word lists or prose. It also explains why the original orientation seemed to work, since immediate quiz scores were high, which addresses a common source of resistance to change. Working memory limits are connected to bedside learning, and retention is measured at months rather than days, so the redesign is judged on the outcome that matters.
Common EDP 818 Module 3 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Memory papers often describe memory as storage without explaining how retrieval and reconstruction shape it. Explain why testing and spacing help, and why they can feel harder. Apply findings to specific practices. Consider how memory affects accounts of events, not only learning. Measure retention over time, not immediately after training. Explain why ineffective methods often look effective, such as high scores right after cramming. Measure retention over the period that matters for the job. Consider working memory as well as long-term memory, since overload during learning limits what is stored. Apply the reconstruction research to any process that relies on recollection, from incident reviews to handoffs.
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EDP 818 Module 3 questions, answered
What does EDP 818 Module 3 usually ask for?
Aspen's EDP 818 covers memory in this module, so a paper applying memory research to a professional problem is typical. Look at your Module 3 prompt.
What is the testing effect?
Roediger and Karpicke's finding that practicing retrieval, by taking tests, produces better long-term retention than spending the same time restudying.
Is spaced practice better than cramming?
Cepeda and colleagues' meta-analysis found spaced practice produces better long-term retention, with the ideal gap growing as the retention interval lengthens.
Where can I find a free EDP 818 Module 3 sample paper?
This page holds the entire paper: retrieval practice, spacing and reconstructive memory applied to nurse training and incident reviews.
Can questions change what people remember?
Loftus and Palmer found that wording a question with "smashed" instead of "hit" raised speed estimates and led more people to falsely remember broken glass.