Two Highly Effective Learning Strategies.

  Its interesting what researchers say about 5  effective learning techniques of which two are considered highly effective. 

The first highly effective technique is practice testing where students are frequently tested with low stakes quizzes.  Practice testing is another name for retrieval practice and should be carried out over a period of time because it helps material stick. 

The important part is to make sure theses tests or quizzes are worth few to no points because it allows students to practice in a safe environment.  This type of frequent retrieval practice improves long term ability to remember the information.  The best type of test to use is one that allows students to freely recall the information.

Research indicates if students are tested right after reading a passage remembered more than those who simply reread the passage.  In addition to remembering more, students were able to apply the information in new ways.

Frequent quizzes can be applied to any subject and any age group. In addition, teachers should provide a way for students to retest over days or months rather than doing it all on the same day.  It is also important to provide feedback on student performance once the test is completed rather than after each test item.

Other ways to implement practice testing are to have students write down the main points of the day's lesson during the last few minutes of class.  Teachers should also pretest students before introducing the material because it prepares a student's brain for the new material.

The other highly effective technique is distributed practice or spacing.  This practice has the teacher spreading out the concept over a period of time rather than just at once.  By spacing the study over time, students can increase their information recall by up to ten percent.  Again, this technique can be used for all ages in all subjects.

The way an educator implements this is by introducing a new topic one day and then return to the topic over time.  Furthermore, they should take place after the material has been taught so students are forced to retrieve it from their brain.  This technique is more effective than just doing a bunch of problems or study all at once.  This doing problems all at once is referred to as massed practice.

The idea is that each time you come across the material during study, your brain tries to retrieve the material.  If the retrieval is successful, the memory is more likely to remain rather than being forgotten.  Another theory on why distributed practice works is that when you learn the material, your brain encodes it with contextual information such as how you are feeling, how the information is presented etc.  Because it is being done over time, the contexts are more variable and provides better cues for retrieval than massed practice.

Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.