Thinking about...retrieval practice

Retrieval Practice - Pupils Need More Tests!

Generally, tests are considered for assessment purposes only. Teachers, in the main, have a negative perception of testing due to the significant increases in the number of tests that pupils now have to take during their school careers. However, they turn out to actually be one of the most effective tools for learning; quizzing and low stakes testing are crucial to optimise learning.

Testing has to be thought of as in a pedagogical sense. Testing, when used this way, engages learners in practicing recalling memories (information learnt). ‘The act of retrieving a memory changes the memory, making it easier to retrieve again later’. Repeated recall appears to help memory consolidate into cohesive representation in the brain to strengthen and multiply the neural routes by which the knowledge can later be retrieved. Research proves that practicing retrieval makes learning stick far better than re-exposure.

Retrieval practice is one of the most successful strategies for learning and the more effortful the retrieval the stronger the benefit. The greater the effort to retrieve learning, provided that there are high rates of success, the more learning is strengthened by retrieval. 

The following examples outlines some suggestions of how you might provide your pupils with opportunities to engage in retrieval practice.

Retrieval Practice Strategies for the Classroom

Regular low stakes quizzes - Possibly the easiest way to provide opportunities for regular retrieval practice is through low stakes quizzes/tests to your lesson that test knowledge that has previously been taught. Low stakes means that little emphasis is placed on the scores. Pupils’ results don’t have to be shared or recorded, it is the process of retrieving previously learnt information that is important.

Whole Class Quizzing - Create multiple choice quizzes that will engage pupils in retrieving information. You can use simple methods such as RAG pages or mini-white boards to ensure that pupils are individually accountable for answering question. This not only engages pupils in recalling learnt information but allows you to quickly assess their knowledge.

Interleaving Quiz - Regularly start a lesson with a low stakes quiz that allows pupils to revisit previously learnt information, using the following format:

1.   Question from previous lesson.

2.   Question from previous week.

3.   Question from previous topic.

4.   Question from previous term.

5.   Question requiring pupils to make a link between what they are currently learning and what they have previously learnt.

Quick Fire Questioning - This strategy simply involves asking a number of questions that require pupils to retrieve information. Consider how you make all pupils individually accountable for retrieving the memory. This could be achieve by providing pupils with some think time and insist on no hands up.

Writing to Learn - This task requires pupils to recall as much information as they can about a topic/lesson/term etc. Pupils are provided with a short period of time and asked to write as much as they can about a topic/lesson/term etc.

Homework - Forgetting is key to remembering and therefore spaced retrieval is an effective strategy.  The setting of homework is a great opportunity to encourage retrieval practice and to ensure it is spaced retrieval. Rather than set a homework relevant to the learning that has taken place during the lesson or that week why not provide pupils with a task that will require them to revisit previously taught content?

Self-explanation - Pupils are challenged to consider how new information can be linked to what they already know. In order to make links the pupils must engage in retrieval practice to recall all the previously learnt information.

Knowledge Organisers – There are a number of ways in which pupils use their Knowledge Organiser (KO) as a resource to help engage in retrieval practice.

·     Peer Quizzing - Using their KO, as a resource, pupils can quiz each other in pairs. One pupil can pose questions from the KO and check the pupils answers whilst the other is challenged to answer the questions. To help with this process encourage pupils to use Tip-Tip-Teach. If a pupil incorrectly answers a question their peer should give them a tip to help them recall the correct answer, followed by a second tip and then teach the correct answer if necessary.   

·     Cover – Write – Check - Correct - They cover the KO and aim to write down as much of its content that they can recall. Once pupils have recorded as much information as possible they check and correct their work. 

·     KO Starter Activity - Displaying one section of the KO with some information left off. Pupils are required to fill in the blanks, identify the key terms, complete a process or recall the precise definitions etc.

Cooperative Learning Strategies – There are a number of Cooperative Learning Structures that can be used to engage your pupils in retrieval practice. The main benefits of these are that all pupils are individually accountable for engaging in the activity and that half of the class are simultaneously answering a questions/recalling information at any one time.

·     Rally Robin & Pair Share – Basic structures. Pupils can recall information such as key words or speak about a topic.

·     Quiz – Quiz – Trade & Inside Outside Circle - Involves pupils pairing up and, in turns, answering and asking a question that requires pupils to recall information. Pupils can create their own questions or you could use exam questions and mark schemes.

·     Rally Coach - This cooperative learning structure involves partners taking turns; one solving a problem and the other coaching. This usually works best when the teacher has previously modelled a process for working out a problem e.g. Maths problem or answering a question with multiple steps.

Technology – There are number of ways in which you could use technology to help engage pupils in retrieval practice.

·     Classroom Apps - There are a number of apps and software that can be used to engage pupils in retrieval practice. Regularly used examples include Kahoot, Socrative and Google Forms. They allow you to create multiple choice quizzes to engage pupils in retrieval practice.

·     Flashcards Software - Here is a list of flashcard software that you can use to create your own flashcards for pupils to use (shared by @AceThatTest). These allow pupils to track their own progress, prevents them having to create their own and there are often a number of sets that have already be created that might be of use.

·     Subject Specific Software - There are a range of subject specific software which actively engages pupils in retrieval practice. These can be used as a high impact/low effort homework strategy that requires little workload. Some examples of subject specific software include; Linguascope/Memrise (MFL), Mangahigh (Maths), My PE Exam (PE) and Pearson ActiveLearn (various subjects).

Conditions for Effective Retrieval Practice

Success Rate - In order for the above strategies to be effective pupils must have a medium to high retrieval success.  If the tasks are too difficult pupils will not be able to recall any information.

Feedback - immediate feedback must be provided. Although the process is more important than the results it is still essential that pupils are provided with feedback to the non-recalled or incorrectly recalled information. Providing immediate feedback increases the likelihood that information will be stored to memory.

Space Out Retrieval Practice - It is important to leave a considerable amount of time between sessions of retrieval to take advantage of forgetting.

The misconception is that massed practice can lead to embedding something into long-term memory. Although this might lead to increased performance it is not conducive to learning. This is because when retrieval strength is high additional study has no effect on storage strength. When ideas have been forgotten the effort to recall them reconstructs the learning from long-term memory and makes the idea more memorable and connects it to other knowledge more recently learnt.

Educate Pupils on the Process - One of the most effective strategies for improving pupils’ ability to retain information is explicitly educating students about the research on effective learning strategies.  Teachers are encouraged to be transparent about the frustrations but the importance of the ‘testing effect’. Educating pupils on the benefits of regularly testing and self-quizzing is likely to improve their motivation for such tasks and will also help them develop their own effective learning habits.

Thinking about...what we can learn from John Wooden

 John Wooden led his basketball teams to ten national championships in twelve years and is regarded as one of the greatest sport coaches in History. However, it is not his success and achievements that make Wooden so popular, it is the way he lived his life. His integrity, class and humility have inspired people from all walks of life and I believe the that teachers, schools and the education system can learn a lot from him.  

The road is better than the end

After Wooden had retired he was asked if he missed it [coaching basketball]. He explained that he missed the practices and working with the young people under his supervision but that he did not miss the games and the tournaments. Wooden expressed that the importance is in the preparation and not the outcome. He felt that ensuring his players were prepared to perform at their potential would have a greater influence on the result than constantly stressing over the outcome. Does your school focus on the road or on the end?  In education, like basketball, an outcome is inevitable; we can’t avoid the examinations that our pupils will sit at the end of their five years of schooling. We can, however, focus more on how they might grown as an individual throughout their five-year journey. We can make sure that our young people are defined by their character and not by their exam results.

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation

Wooden disregarded reputation because it was something that he had no control over. He felt that his teams couldn’t necessarily control if they win or lose but they could control how they played the game.  Wooden believed that success is what you consistently do and that you cannot be defined by a single moment, game or tournament. He would watch how his team played to determine if they were successful or not. Wooden would often say that ‘there were games when we scored more than the opposition but we had lost and vice versa’. In education, do we care how well young people play the game or are we only concerned with their results? Some schools become so focused on their reputation, on their results and on their Ofsted grading that they lose focus of what matters. The children!  

John Wooden was asked, after one outstanding season, if this was his best job and he replied that he wouldn’t know for twenty years. He explained that it is what your youngsters do after they have left your supervision that really determines whether or not you have done a good job. What good are a school’s results, or its reputation, if its pupils fail to make a positive contribution to and succeed within society?

Never mention winning

Ironically, those schools that become overly focused on winning (results and Ofsted grades) are more likely to fail (by their own standards). Wooden himself has experienced this. When discussing the 16 years prior to his first championship title he explained, ashamedly, that there were times when he wanted to win so much that he hurt his team’s chances by overworking his players or trying to give them too much. In education we are currently facing a workload crisis; a number of teachers are reportedly leaving the profession due to being over worked and over stressed. Perhaps, as Wooden suggested, we are hurting our chances of being successful as we are focused too much on winning. We are focused too much on what Ofsted want. If we want to succeed; take a step back, let teachers do their job and stop putting the emphasis on winning.

Real happiness and success comes from the things that cannot be taken away from you

Perhaps we need to revisit our moral purpose, the reason we got involved in the profession and what it actually means to be an educator. When reflecting on his life, Wooden stated, that true success can only be measured by the lasting things in life, those things that cannot be taken away.  He explained that he always tried to live his life by the motto: ‘you can’t have a perfect day without doing something for another without any thought of return’. How many perfect days have you had recently? In education are we fulfilling our moral purpose and allowing our pupils to fulfil their potential? Or are we teaching in return for good results or an Ofsted grade? John Wooden will not be remembered as being a winner but for being successful. It is not the ten national championships that gravitate people towards him but rather the influence and inspiration he had on his players and those who he worked with. Perhaps our education system can learn the difference between winning and success from John Wooden and focus a little more on character and less on reputation.