Retrieval Practice

How does the science of learning inform the day-to-day instructional choices of teachers and how they might design learning experiences for their students? This is a question that until relatively recently was not easy to answer.

The research about how children learn was not readily accessible to the typical classroom teacher.

What was available didn't translate easily into ready-to-use teaching strategies.

Fortunately, that's no longer the case.

Cognitive science research now provides a rich body of work that can enhance immediately the effectiveness of any teacher.

More and more of that research is being translated into books and articles designed for classroom teachers.

In this session and those that follow, we will show practical implications of the science of learning as it relates to teaching strategies.

Before we begin, however, we want to acknowledge that reflective teachers everywhere may already understand many if not all of the learning principles these teaching strategies are based on.

Cognitive science research can affirm and deepen that existing understanding and in some cases provides us with counterintuitive insights.

First, let's do a quick review of our model of memory that you, by now, should be quite familiar with.

Incoming sensory information makes its way through the attention bottleneck and enters into our working memory.

It then either begins to be processed in some way or is lost after a brief period of time.

Recall that the real learning action occurs between working memory and long-term memory.

We encode memories through the dialogue that happens between the two.

Learning is when information from working memory is transferred to long-term memory through what is usually called conscious processing.

We use the phrase, "You have to think to learn," with regard to memory formation.

That's what active learning is all about: linking new knowledge to what's already in our memory, what we call prior knowledge.

It's really that simple and profound.

If you'd like a fuller explanation, please refer to our earlier sessions on learning strategies.

Now we're going to look at some different teaching strategies that are based on learning principles emerging from cognitive science.

You will be familiar with three of these strategies: retrieval practice, spaced practice, and interleaving.

We discussed them earlier when we talked about student learning strategies.

Two additional strategies that are important for teachers to know are elaboration and promoting metacognition.

Let's begin with retrieval practice.

Few cognitive strategies are as well-researched, simple to understand, and easy to apply, yet its impact on learning is powerful.

It's basic premises are threefold.

First, the act of retrieving a memory can modify, reorganize, and consolidate it better in our long-term storage.

Second, recalling a memory often creates secondary retrieval pathways to that memory and makes it easier to retrieve later.

Third, by searching for a memory, we frequently activate information connected to that memory and link it in a more networked context for easier future access.

It's as if our overall memory was a dark storage room that we enter with a flashlight to look for things.

For example, in this analogy, let's say it's a picture from an old box of photos we'd like to find.

As we enter the dark storage room, we scan with our flashlight and peer about.

We see some boxes off in a corner that look as if they might contain the photos and begin to rummage around.

In the process, we might organize the boxes a bit as we examine them and poke around inside.

Finally, we find our box of photos, retrieve the picture we're look for, and leave.

Chances are, the next time we go into the storage room, we'll be much more likely to find the box of photos.

Likewise with retrieval practice.

All the cognitive processing it creates, which can be a struggle, strengthens memories and make them more likely to be retrieved in the future.

In basic ways, the act of retrieving a memory is a learning event.

But there is an important caveat to consider.

It has to do with the retrieval cues used to recall the memories.

It makes a difference where the retrieval cue comes from.

It could be an outside source like a question in a book or on a study guide, or even a teacher's verbal question.

Those prompts or cues are what the learner then uses to search their memory.

For example, a history student might study for a test by rereading material they highlighted in their text or looking over their notes or even reading textbook passages.

These are three of the most common study strategies used by students.

The recall cues used to retrieve the relevant information in their memory comes from the text or the notes themselves.

We call this cued recall because the learner is being cued or prompted by these outside sources.

On the other hand, the learner can supply the retrieval cues.

In this case, the student first tries to recall what they remember about the important material in their text or notes without looking at them.

They would ask themselves, "What are the most important ideas "in my notes or what I highlighted "that I need to remember for tomorrow's test?" We call this free recall.

The cues are entirely coming from the learner.

If we hearken back to the dark storage room analogy, during free recall, the learner is the one holding the flashlight, looking for the wanted item in the room and also doing the work finding it.

In cued recall, someone else is holding the flashlight and the learner is much less active.

Free recall is usually much harder for the learner because they have to struggle to find the information without the benefit of specific cues.

But it's precisely in that struggle where the learning happens, for all the reasons we've described.

Unfortunately, cued recall often creates the illusion of knowing in learners.

They look at their highlighted text or notes and these cues help them go directly to those areas in their long-term memory containing that information.

They find that information if it's there and affirm its presence and then move on.

Little if any cognitive processing or struggle happens, but this act of recognition does little to strengthen and consolidate the memory.

It's not that cued recall has no positive learning attributes.

It just doesn't have the significant learning benefits of free recall.

So, how we do incorporate this understanding of retrieval practice in our teaching? It's actually fairly simple.

We encourage students to practice retrieval whenever they can, both in and out of class.

Here are some examples.

The beginning of class is a good time to do your retrieval practice.

If the students had a homework reading or problem set, ask them to think about the most important concept or skills they learned.

Be sure they know they can't look at their notes or readings as they do this.

You could also ask them to recall the most important ideas we talked about in class yesterday.

Be sure to have students think first on their own and perhaps write down what they come up with.

Remember, you want them to struggle some, and let them know that struggle is okay and even productive.

Once they've thought for a bit, they could share their thoughts with a partner and compare notes.

This is another form of cognitive processing.

So far, we've used no more than four or five minutes of class time.

Next, you could talk as a whole class or students could go back and review their notes or reading.

However you do it, you want them to be sure to check on whether their retrieval was both accurate and complete.

This is a key point.

Students must always have some way to verify the quality of their retrieval practice.

We wanna be sure they confirm what they know and identify what they may have forgotten or misconstrued.

You're probably thinking, "This takes a lotta time." Well, yes and no, depending on the nature of the material we're dealing with.

It could take anywhere from five to 15 minutes, but the long-term learning gains for the students are well worth the investment of time.

And let me emphasize, the gains are in long-term memory storage and in the ability to flexibly retrieve what's in our memory.

What we call forgetting is often an inability to retrieve what's in memory or was never consolidated in memory in a durable way.

Here's another example.

During a class discussion or lecture, you could pause partway through and ask students to think about their questions or the most important things that have been said thus far.

Writing this down, drawing a diagram or concept map, or talking with a neighbor will help solidify the learning.

Teachers need to encourage students to use retrieval practice during homework, pausing periodically to free recall the most important ideas they've been learning.

After doing a homework reading or problem set, students can move on to other homework but then circle back and try to recall the most important ideas and concepts they studied before.

Expecting and teaching students to develop these habits of studying should become a part of your teaching repertoire, even though you're not usually with your students when they do their homework.

In other words, you take class time to help students become more effective learners when they're away from you.

Recall that the growth mindset is only useful in enhancing student learning if the mindset is accompanied by effective effort.

The nice thing about retrieval practice is that it's portable.

Students can do it anywhere: sitting on the bus, standing in line, taking a shower, even right before falling asleep.

A few caveats before we move on to spaced practice, the next learning strategy.

First, as we've said, it's essential that students receive feedback about the accuracy and completeness of their retrieval practice.

Second, it's important that retrieval practice isn't graded.

We're not advocating simply doing a lot of quizzing.

Retrieval practice is a learning strategy, not an assessment form.

We want students to use it whenever they can.

By grading retrieval practice, anxiety, and other performance issues become attached to what should be a remarkably effective and flexible formative tool for learning.

Finally, it's important that students have something in memory to retrieve in the first place.

If they don't know how to strategically read, for example, they may come into class with very little in memory after reading a homework assignment.

That's why knowing how to actively learn in the ways we've discussed in this course is important.

Finally, done appropriately, retrieval practice is difficult and it involves struggle.

Let students know that this struggle is good for learning.

Durable and long-lasting learning that can be retrieved and used later when we need it doesn't happen easily.