{"id":2706,"date":"2018-01-02T08:00:21","date_gmt":"2018-01-02T08:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/braindevs.net\/blog\/blog\/?p=2706"},"modified":"2017-12-25T18:15:34","modified_gmt":"2017-12-25T18:15:34","slug":"a-potential-downside-to-retrieval-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/a-potential-downside-to-retrieval-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Benefiting from Retrieval Practice: Get the Timing Just Right"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Retrieval<\/a><\/p>\n

I’ve posted a lot here recently about\u00a0retrieval practice<\/strong>: the practice of reviewing material by pulling it OUT of the student’s head rather than trying to put it back IN.<\/p>\n

For example: if I ask my students to write down the 5 main points from yesterday’s class about the Buddha, that’s retrieval practice. They have to get info out<\/em> of their heads.<\/p>\n

If, instead, I remind<\/em> them of the 5 main points from yesterday’s class, that’s not retrieval practice. After all, I’m putting information back in<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The short sales pitch for retrieval practice is: it works for all students in all subjects, all the time. (Ask\u00a0Dr. Pooja Agarwal<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Unless…<\/h2>\n

Of course,\u00a0all\u00a0<\/em>students in\u00a0all\u00a0<\/em>subjects\u00a0all<\/em> the time is quite a grand claim. It’s rare for any teaching practice to work all the time, so we should be on the lookout for\u00a0boundary conditions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And, indeed, one has recently jumped out at me.<\/p>\n

The story is interestingly complicated. I promise, however, that a close study of this complexity leads to specific and useful teaching advice. So: hang in there!<\/p>\n

When Retrieval Practice Timing Might Be Bad<\/h2>\n

Imagine that, in yesterday’s class, we went over ten<\/em> definitions for key economics terms. I want to begin today’s class with a quick review, so we go back over\u00a0five<\/em> of those terms.<\/p>\n

My assumption is that, by reviewing five<\/span>, I’m actually helping you to remember all ten<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Here’s the surprising research finding: by practicing\u00a0some<\/em>\u00a0of the terms, I actually make it LESS LIKELY that you’ll remember the\u00a0unpracticed<\/em> terms.<\/p>\n

In other words: recalling some of the words prompts you to forget the unpracticed words.<\/p>\n

Psychologists call this bizarre result retrieval-induced forgetting<\/strong>. After all, the retrieval<\/em> — that is, the practice — induced<\/em> you to forget.<\/em><\/p>\n

When Research Fields Contradict<\/h2>\n

So: the\u00a0retrieval practice<\/strong> research says that retrieval is beneficial<\/i> for memory.<\/p>\n

And: the\u00a0retrieval-induced forgetting<\/strong> research says that retrieval is\u00a0detrimental<\/em> for memory.<\/p>\n

What happens when teachers do both? Does one cancel out the other? Can Superman defeat Iron Man?<\/p>\n

Research<\/a> done by Jason CK Chan helps answer this intriguing question.<\/p>\n

The short answer is: in the short term<\/em>, retrieval-induced forgetting is stronger<\/span>. So: if I quiz you on five of those economics terms, and then give you the final test on those terms an hour later, you’re more likely to forget the five unpracticed words.<\/p>\n

However, in the longer term<\/em>, retrieval practice is stronger<\/u>. So: the quiz on five terms will benefit you if you take that final test 24 hours later.<\/p>\n

This result is especially likely if my quiz encourages you to think about how these<\/em> five words connect conceptually to the other <\/em>words.<\/p>\n

Practical Advice<\/h2>\n

Although these research findings can be difficult to follow, they do all lead to a specific suggestion.<\/p>\n

Retrieval practice is an excellent study strategy for students\u00a0more than 24 hours<\/strong> ahead of a test. However, within that 24 hour window, teachers and students should focus more on connecting ideas rather than recalling them.<\/p>\n

To update Dr. Agarwal’s guidance: retrieval practice works for all students in all subjects, (almost) all the time.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Retrieval practice is an excellent study strategy for students more than 24 hours ahead of a test. However, within that 24 hour window, teachers and students should focus more on connecting ideas rather than recalling them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":2710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[15,23,12],"class_list":["post-2706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lb-blog","tag-classroom-advice","tag-long-term-memory","tag-retrieval-practice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2706"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2823,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2706\/revisions\/2823"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}