Retrieval practice is a powerful research-based strategy that boosts learning by pulling information out of students’ heads, rather than cramming information into students heads. It's a no-stakes learning opportunity that is flexible and quick, with a huge impact on long-term student achievement.
Encourage student reflection with these four retrieval practice activities (no prep and no grading!): Start, Stop, Keep; Rose, Thorn, Bud; Flash Forward; and Five Words. Quick, simple, powerful.
Lots of students use flashcards. But using flashcards doesn't guarantee they're using retrieval practice. In fact, students could be wasting their time. This week, we share three research-based tips to make flashcards more powerful. Help students study smarter, not harder.
Do you use study guides in your classroom, where key information is in outline form and students fill in the blanks during a lesson? Turn your study guides into Retrieval Guides without additional prep, grading, or class time! Download our Retrieval Guide Template for successful long-term learning.
Do you sometimes wonder how you'll ever find the time for retrieval practice during your lessons? You're not alone. That being said, you're also asking the wrong question. Read on and learn how to use retrieval practice to save time, not spend it.
Classroom games can encourage retrieval. But they can also raise student anxiety when they're competitive or time limited. Check out this new teaching strategy: Retrieval Tic Tac Toe. Created by college students, adaptable for any classroom or content area. Have fun!
Retrieval practice is a powerful strategy for learning, but sometimes it intimidates students. Download our Retrieval Warm Ups and make retrieval no big deal. They're a perfect way to show students that we retrieve all the time, without even thinking about it. To flip retrieval practice from a negative feeling to a positive strategy, sometimes all it takes is a little warming up!
Cake, cake, cake! This sweet delight illustrates how we can best support learning in the classroom: with retrieval practice, formative assessment, and summative assessment. But how are these ingredients similar and different? Why isn't learning a bake off, cupcake war, or throw down? And why isn’t retrieval practice a call for more tests?
There's a lot of discussion and research about students' study habits outside the classroom, including re-reading, taking notes, and highlighting. Students tend to use these strategies inside the classroom, too. In either setting, are students retaining what they're trying to learn? Potentially, but not always. Read more for our boost on note-taking, which we call retrieve-taking.
How can we use retrieval practice to break up our lessons, quickly and easily, without pausing to facilitate class discussion or collect papers? Use a retrieval strategy we simply call "Two Things," a no-quiz activity for your classroom.
When we talk about retrieval practice, here's one question that frequently pops up: Does retrieval practice with multiple-choice questions boost learning? Here's the quick answer, based on cognitive science research: Yes! Read on for research, recommendations, and this week's multiple-choice retrieval practice.
With the end of the semester within sight, we feature a small strategy that makes a big impact on student learning – based on decades of cognitive science research. In scientific lingo, we call it "free recall."
Want a quick way to access classroom research on retrieval practice? Download our database of 50 experiments and read a detailed literature review by cognitive scientists.