Association questions (AQs) are a novel form of multiple-choice questions (MCQs). To answer an AQ, learners must recall the concepts denoted by the given terms, affirm their connections, and then select the term with a denotation that is “less connected” with other concepts. This research hypothesizes that the use of AQ tests for reviewing course contents can significantly help learners to assimilate and/or accommodate what was covered in class and to store the resulting cognitive structures in long-term memory (LTM). To test this hypothesis, an educational experiment was conducted. The results showed that the use of optional online AQ tests for reviewing course contents helped with knowledge retention and was especially suitable for learners with medium levels of initial knowledge. AQs are easy to answer and grade. Therefore, it should be worthwhile to use AQ tests for formative assessment whenever AQs can be designed to help learners better understand course contents.

中文翻译：

---

关于知识保留的关联问题

关联问题 (AQ) 是多项选择题 (MCQ) 的一种新颖形式。要回答 AQ，学习者必须回忆给定术语所表示的概念，确认它们的联系，然后选择与其他概念“联系较少”的术语。这项研究假设使用 AQ 测试来复习课程内容可以显着帮助学习者吸收和/或适应课堂上所涵盖的内容，并将由此产生的认知结构存储在长期记忆 (LTM) 中。为了验证这一假设，进行了一项教育实验。结果表明，使用可选的在线 AQ 测试来复习课程内容有助于知识的保留，特别适合具有中等初始知识水平的学习者。AQ 很容易回答和评分。所以，