Optimising Learning Using Retrieval Practice

Today I am proud to reveal an article from the Chartered College of Teaching's latest Impact journal, focusing on insights from neuroscience and cognitive psychology that can be used in the classroom to support effective teaching and learning.

'Optimising Learning Using Retrieval Practice' is written by Megan A Sumeracki and Yana Weinstein, two of the founders of The Learning Scientists.

Non-members of the Chartered College of Teaching can find the article available open access on our Impact journal website as a taster of what our membership has to offer.

Follow this link to read the entire article, or continue to read the abstract below:

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Abstract

Retrieval practice, or reconstructing knowledge by bringing it to mind from your memory, has been shown by numerous researchers to improve student learning (see (Roediger et al., 2011)). Saying that retrieval practice promotes learning in the classroom is all well and good, but what does this actually mean for teachers who want to implement retrieval practice in their classrooms? Teachers might wonder how successful students need to be for retrieval to promote learning. How difficult should retrieval opportunities be? Does the format of retrieval practice matter? How should I time the questions within a lesson? Some of these things may matter, while others may not.

Practising retrieval improves learning compared to rereading information (Roediger and Karpicke, 2006) – a strategy that many college students report using (for example, (Hartwig and Dunlosky, 2012)). Retrieval practice can also improve learning compared to other study strategies thought to be beneficial, such as creating a concept map while reading (Karpicke and Blunt, 2011). Promoting retrieval practice in the classroom can simply involve giving students frequent tests or quizzes. In fact, the retrieval practice phenomenon was called the testing effect for much of the last century, but now is more commonly called retrieval practice because one can promote retrieval with activities other than tests or quizzes (for example, (Karpicke, Blunt, et al., 2014)). Importantly, retrieval practice can help with both fact-based learning and meaningful learning and transfer ((Butler, 2010); (Carpenter, 2012); (Jensen et al., 2014); (Smith et al., 2016)). Thus, retrieval practice is of significant value in educational settings, and research in live classrooms confirms that utilising retrieval practice improves student learning in multiple contexts. For example, a retrieval practice benefit has been shown for adult learners in college classrooms (for example, (Mayer et al., 2009)) as well as for primary school classrooms with middle-school students (McDermott et al., 2014), among others.

- Megan A Sumeracki and Yana Weinstein, (2018)

References

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Roediger H, Putnam A, Smith M, et al. (2011) Ten benefits of testing and their applications to educational practice. In: Mestre J (ed.) Psychology of Learning and Motivation: Cognition in Education. Oxford: Elsevier, pp. 1–36.

Smith M, Blunt J, Whiffen J, et al. (2016) Does providing prompts during retrieval practice improve learning? Applied Cognitive Psychology 30: 544–553.