Retrieval Practice: Resource Guide: Ideas & activities for the classroom

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The primary goal of instruction should be to facilitate long-term learning—that is, to create relatively permanent changes in comprehension, understanding, and skills of the types that will support long-term retention and transfer.'

Adam Boxer– How to not screw up retrieval practice and Retrieval, workload and pedagogical content knowledge. Quizizz– my recent blog post explaining why I think this is the best digital tool for online retrieval practice. Learned right, which means understanding, which means connecting in a meaningful way to previous knowledge, information almost cannot be forgotten anymore and will be reliably retrieved if triggered by the right cues.' An example from my own life might illustrate a little better where I see the limitations of a misuse of retrieval practice. I am currently learning the very basics of music theory: accidentals, key signatures, scales, the circle of fifths and other Grade 1 things. If I just used retrieval practice, using Brain dumps or Cops and Robbers, none of those activities are encouraging me to think about connections to either my prior knowledge, connections within music theory or to other domains. When I incorporate this transfer definition of learning, I am encouraged to then think about when I went to London and saw the pianist Helene Grimaud in concert, and begin wondering what key signatures she must have been using or in what dynamic she was striking the keys. Similarly, retrieval practice (in its typical form) does not encourage me to think of connections for pp (which means pianissimo (very quiet) in music theory). If I choose to look for connections, within the confines of music theory or outside, I might think, 'Oh, like in the movie ' A Quiet Place', that must have been set in pp!' etc. As can be noticed, this searching for connections is still retrieval (I have no notes in front of me). I am not a teacher, but playing a modified game of Cops and Robbers, as Cops and Robbers and Suspects, where suspects are those connections which each student can uniquely bring to their learning, could help easily facilitate those connections. This allows students to be encouraged to, when studying Henry VIII, to then seek connections between him and their own lives. Another definition of learning from Sonke Ahren's ' How to take Smart Notes' indicates my point:

The work of Rosenshine isn’t restricted to retrieval practice but regular review and recall is an important aspect of the key principles. Rosenshine – Principles of Instruction. How much do college students with ADHD benefit from retrieval practice when learning key-term definitions? Retrieval Practice: Research and Resources for every classroom is a very practical book written by a teacher in the classroom for teachers and leaders in schools. This book combines educational research with examples of how retrieval practice can work inside and outside of the classroom. Retrieval practice may appear to be the latest buzzword in mainstream education – but in fact it is a very powerful learning strategy. Filled with evidence-informed ideas to support all teachers and leaders across Primary and Secondary. Retrieval practice is a vital element of the science of learning. Understanding how children learn is essential for all educators from NQTs to more experienced teachers and senior leaders.

Below I have curated various resources connected to retrieval practice that can be useful for teachers as part of their professional learning and classroom practice in addition to sharing materials aimed at supporting students and parents too (as it is very important they are also well informed about the science of learning).Blake Harvard is an American educator that has written a series of blogs about evidence-informed learning. His retrieval posts can be found here. Dawn Cox– Why a third of every lesson is retrieval practice and How to learn keywords & quotations – weekly retrieval