Learning and evaluation exercises

Exercises are important part of the learning process. On the one hand, they consolidate and fix the acquisition of knowledge and the mastery of concepts, encouraging the development of intellectual capacity. On - the other, they are a means of evaluating results and progress of the pupil. They can take the form of activities added to a chapter of the textbook, questions (open or multiple choice) on texts or illustrations (maps, diagrams), or practical written work, calculations, problems to be solved and sometimes, drawings. Exercises should cover content already taught and may refer to what has already been learned in a previous chapter. They can also be presented in a context which differs slightly from the content taught, particularly, for an exercise in using and applying concepts.

Exercises should also serve as a method of evaluating learning progress and comprehension of content, in relation to subjects and objectives of a chapter or a section of the textbook. They can be presented with increasing degrees of difficulty (for instance, in maths) thus enabling a more accurate evaluation of results. Exercises also assist in verifying aspects of content which need to be revised or reinforced. They are used in nearly all disciplines, each of which can require its own particular form of exercise.

The formulation of practical exercises and revision demands particular skill on the part of the author of a textbook. He must know how to choose the most relevant and most useful exercises in a given discipline, suggest the presentation which is best adapted to different contents with a view, on the one hand, of consolidating and memorizing what has been learned in a chapter and, on the other, facilitating evaluation of results and the progress of the pupil.