Spaced And Retrieval Practice

 As a teacher, I am always looking for research based instruction so I know I am doing everything I can to help my students learn. Both spaced and retrieval practice help students learn the material while giving them a sense of what they know and what they don't know.  

It is important for students to work with the material, think about it, so they retain the material better.  They shouldn't think about it for the first time during a test or they won't be able to retrieve what they need.

Retrieval practice is exactly what it sounds like.  Students retrieve the information from their memory.  It can retrieved by using a low stakes multiple choice assessment, a group discussion,  or an open ended question or problem.  It can happen at the beginning of class, as a transitional activity, or a way to end class.  

Students can use retrieval practice to determine what they know or don't know.  If they can answer questions, they know it but if they can't, it means they need to go back, review and practice the material. This helps them determine the holes in their learning and they don't realize their areas of weakness on the day of the test. 

For retrieval practice, they should try to use their brains to answer the questions.  If they rely on their notes, textbooks, or peer to provide the answer, then they don't really know the material and they are not practicing retrieving the material from their memory.  

Combine this with spaced practice which is the opposite of cramming. Spaced practice is spreading the practicing out over days and weeks or months.  They will learn better if they spend 15 minutes a day on the material for three days, rather than trying to do the same in a 45 minute period for one day. 

One way to help students do this is to create a chart.  The chart might be vocabulary, the steps needed to solve problem, or information that confuses students.  For the first step, students fill in the chart with as much information as they can pull from their memories. When they are done, ask them to highlight the answers in yellow.  Next, ask students to pull out their notes and use the notes to check and fill in more material.  Highlight these answers in orange. 

Finally, have them talk to each other and fill out any remaining information and then highlight this in blue.  A few days later, pass out the same chart to students and follow the same process as before.  Then about a week later, ask students to fill out the chart again. What most students find with this is that each time they do the activity, the amount of yellow increases and there is less orange and blue.  The increased amount of yellow shows students that they are remembering more information and having to rely less on their notes and peers.

There are other strategies one can use for retrieval and spaced practice but these are ones you can use in class quite easily.  I'll be providing addition strategies at another time.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great weekend.