Highlighting Retrieval Practice

The Effortful Educator describes his fun system for using highlighters during retrieval practice. He teaches AP Psychology in high school, but I suspect this system could be easily used with younger students as well.

EE’s lesson plan stands out for two reasons.

First: it’s a great example of retrieval practice — asking students to pull information out of their brains rather than trying to put more information in.

Second: it’s a great example of translation. EE knows the research about retrieval practice–he’s a psychology teacher after all. In this case, he’s gone well beyond simply replicating methods used by psychology teachers. Instead, he’s thought carefully about the uses of that idea in his particular context, and he’s translated the research to make it work for his students.

In other words: you might emulate the Effortful Educator’s specific strategy of using different colored highlighters. You should emulate his general strategy of adapting psychology to your classroom, your students, and your own approaches to teaching.