🎓Education

Find what actually helps students learn.

Educational institutions have intuitions about what works — but rarely test them. Decision Process helps instructors, curriculum designers, and ed-tech teams run controlled comparisons of formats, feedback timing, pacing, and assessment approaches.

Experiment Templates

Ready-to-run experiments

Active Learning vs. Lecture

“Active learning sessions improve assessment scores vs. traditional lecture.”

Conditions

  • Traditional lecture (control)
  • Active learning

Metrics

  • Assessment Score (%)
  • Engagement Rate (%)
  • Student Satisfaction (1–10)
Course section+24% assessment score

Spaced Repetition vs. Massed Practice

“Spaced repetition improves 30-day knowledge retention vs. single intensive session.”

Conditions

  • Massed practice (control)
  • Spaced repetition

Metrics

  • 30-Day Retention (%)
  • Assessment Score (%)
  • Time to Mastery (hours)
Student+31% 30-day retention

Assessment Feedback Timing

“Immediate automated feedback improves scores more than delayed instructor feedback.”

Conditions

  • Delayed feedback (control)
  • Same-day feedback
  • Immediate feedback

Metrics

  • Assessment Score (%)
  • Completion Rate (%)
  • Student Satisfaction (1–10)
Assessment attempt+12% next-assessment score

Cohort vs. Self-Paced Format

“Cohort-based learning reduces dropout rate through social accountability.”

Conditions

  • Self-paced (control)
  • Cohort format

Metrics

  • Completion Rate (%)
  • Dropout Rate (%)
  • Student Satisfaction (1–10)
Student−38% dropout rate

Worked Example

Active learning vs. lecture across two course sections

A university instructor teaches two parallel sections of the same introductory course: one using traditional lecture format, one using active learning (problem-solving, peer discussion, think-pair-share). 52 students per section. Final exam scores compared at end of semester.

Results: final_exam_score (%)

Lecture format (control)

mean: 71.4%

95% CI: 68.2–74.6

Active learning

mean: 78.9%

95% CI: 75.9–81.9

P(better) = 97%

Active learning produces a +7.5 percentage point improvement in final exam scores (d = +0.66, medium-large effect) at 97% posterior probability. The result exceeds the department's pre-specified 90% decision threshold. Recommendation: adopt active learning format for all introductory sections.

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