Games and Retrieval Practice

  Retrieval practice is a wonderful way to help students shift their mathematical learning from short term to long term memory.  It is a way of recalling facts from your memory rather than looking at notes.

One of the best ways to do retrieval practice is to provide frequent quizzes so students have to practice retrieving the information.

One way is flashcards but most high school students laugh at the idea of those while if given a quiz, they may want to know how many points its worth.  Sometimes, it nice to sprinkle games in among the quizzes so students have a fun way.

One of the games my students love playing is Kahoot because they find it fun racing to be first with the correct answer.  It is a way to test their knowledge in a less stress situation.  Even the students who struggle, enjoy playing the game.  You can hear when they missed a question because it provides immediate feedback.

In addition, I can tell from the leader board when no one gets the correct answer.  This tells me, its time to work the problem to remind students of the process.  Unfortunately, the bandwidth at school often prevents me from playing the game on line.

For days like that, I pass out white boards or have students grab an ipad, pull up a drawing app so they are ready.  I write a problem on the board and watch them go.  When they are done, they hold up the work, I check it and respond with a thumbs up or down.  Thumbs up means its right, thumbs down , its wrong.  They want to be the winner because I offer candy for the right answer.  They will do anything for candy.

Another game is a variation of bingo but let the students choose the answers.  You provide a list of answers from say 50 questions for a 5 by 5 bingo card.  In the bucket, you have 50 different problems.  Select one problem at a time, give students a chance to work the problem and find the answer.   Once a student has 5 in a row, they've won.  The 50 problems should contain a nice mixture of easy, medium, and hard problems to everyone is challenged and those who struggle have success.

Yes, you have to work the problems out ahead of time to know what the answers are but once you have a choice of 100 problems, you can mix and match as needed.  The problems can cover several different topics so students have learned. 

Just make sure the games chosen allow students to work individually or in pairs.  I tried having students play Jeopardy in groups but it didn't work well.  If they were in groups larger than pairs, one person often did the work while others didn't.  I also give points to those who all had the correct answer.

I try to play games at least once a week so students get the retrieval practice they need.  Why not, if they are having fun and learning at the same time. 

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