Retrieval Practice
What is retrieval practice?
Retrieval - not just for dogs!
Retrieval practice is something you can do, while studying at home, to help boost your learning. How often do you cram for a test? Leave it a little too late to start studying? It's stressful but actually cramming works - but only for a very short-period of time.
If you are looking for longer-term learning and want to try and retain some of your crucial knowledge, you need to try something else.
The answer is RETRIEVAL PRACTICE.
In this brief section, I will share a few techniques I'd like you to try once a week to help boost your learning. It is all about regular, spaced retrieval of information!
It should be challenging - the process of remembering information you learned a few days/weeks ago is tricky - but it is this challenge that promotes storage and, more importantly, retrieval of the information in the future.
The Forgetting Curve
Before we start, let's consider the "Forgetting Curve" and see how retrieval practice can help combat this all-too-easy process of forgetting.
This shows us that information we learn on Monday is quickly forgotten and lost from our memory by the following Monday!
With regular, spaced opportunities to challenge ourselves and retrieve information from our memories, we can combat the forgetting curve and strengthen the memory.
Exam-based anxiety?
Retrieval Practice is your next step forward to improving your grades!
Here is a short video about "Retrieval Practice" - it is directed at teachers but you will get the point they are trying to make in terms of using the information for your own learning and studying practices.
Instead of focusing on one big session of revision, break it up - do lots of mini quizzes and revision practice regularly and spaced throughout the term.
Strategy 1: Brain Dumps
Affectionately called "brain dumps", this is a learning strategy where you attempt to recall everything you can on a particular subject - without looking at your notes.
Simply grab a sheet of paper and a pencil, give yourself some time and write everything down from a specific area, e.g. Scientific ethics or Respiration - the process of "retrieving" these facts from your memory is challenging but ultimately it is this challenge that makes the process hugely beneficial for your learning.
When you have finished, refer back to your notes - did you miss anything? Add these into your "brain dump" in a different colour.
A student's brain dump during a Supported Study sesssion
Strategy 2: Knowledge Organisers
Knowledge organisers are tools that can be used to sort relevant information into related categories. They hold all the key information you need to learn and can be used to generate questions for Retrieval Practice. This revision strategy should be used in conjunction with Retrieval Practice - simply writing out information is not an effective revision method as countless scientific studies have shown. However, organising information into this format with the purpose of using it for retrieval practice and question generation later IS a good revision method.
Strategy 3: Flashcards or....better still Retrieval Cards
Flashcards are a great way to strength Retrieval Practice. Make them yourself or use online tools to help you: Quizlet and Tinycards are two great online tools to produce flashcards.
Flashcards can be used for Keywords/Definitions - simply open your jotter, write a keyword on one side and the definition on the other. You can even use it to hold key facts. Test yourself regularly and when you repeatedly get the correct answer, simply remove that card and create a new one for the stack.
Quizlet is a useful online tool for Retrieval Practice
Use tinycard to produce your own flashcards
Retrieval cards are similar to flashcards. Usually with flashcards, you open your jotter and write out what you want - test yourself later. With Retrieval cards, you choose a selection of keywords (for instance - this could also be questions) and, without using your jotter, you assess your confidence on writing the answer or definition. Put a star on the card if you know the answer and a ? if you don't. Answer all the cards with a star. Look up all the definitions with a ?. Now check your answers you wrote with a star. This way you are usual Retrieval Practice twice - once when you make the cards, and secondly when you use the cards to test yourself! Double the prize!
Strategy 4: Low-stake quizzes
Quizlet used for Retrieval Practice
Low-stakes quizzes (i.e. the mark doesn't really matter and often no mark is needed at all!) are an important part of Retrieval Practice. Do this regularly and get friends and family to help you. You can write your quiz or use an online tool, like Kahoot, to put your quiz together. You could write one for your friends and they can return the favour. Do this regularly and keep revisiting older course material - this is important to combat the "forgetting curve".
Regularly, spaced Retrieval Practice means that you can minimise panic-stricken cramming in the hours before an exam.
Starters to lessons will be familiar to you all - often a good example of Retrieval Practice
Kahoot - a classroom favourite but also a useful way to engage in Retrieval Practice with immediate feedback
Strategy 5: Memory platform
Memory platforms involve a multi-level retrieval process. It often involves a set of 5-6 questions that aim to retrieve information from:
last lesson
last week
last term
The ultimate goal is often to establish links between these different stages of learning. This process can often be helped by a process called elaborative interrogation - essentially, this is forcing yourself to ask "but why?" after you recall a statement.
Consider the example below...the first level of memory retrieval is "Define diffusion".
When you have arrived at your answer for this, simply ask "but why is that the case?" or "but why is that important?".
This will help you relate to information that you learned previously in the course, e.g. "Diffusion is important for the movement of oxygen from the alveoli into blood capillaries".
Again: "But why is this important?".
"Because oxygen must then enter the circulation, to arrive at cells for cellular respiration".
"But why is respiration required?"
And so on!
Strategy 6: Dual Coding
Dual coding is an important Retrieval Practice activity that involves combining written facts with supporting diagrams relating to the information.
A variety of information input methods strengthens our memories and ability to recall information later - any Higher Human Biologist knows this, don't they...?
Have a look at the examples of Dual Coding below.
Definition of diffusion, together with a diagram to illustrate when this might occur. This is also similar to a Memory Platform technique.
A very talented "artist" put this together quickly to demonstrate dual coding to support learning of the brain structure. Wasted in Science I think with talents like these.
The theory of dual coding suggests the a combination of different inputs is key to later retrieval of that information - why not try adding auditory inputs to this by reading the information out loud as your write it.
Other helpful revision methods
Scientific studies have informed the use of Retrieval Practice to improve pupil grades. Here are some other useful facts that researchers have found out. These studies were found in a book called "The Science of Learning" (Busch, B. and Watson E. (2019), The Science of Learning, Abingdon, Routledge (1st edition).
