Bitesize Research: Retrieval Practice & Spacing

By Jaya Carrier

I hope you’re all having a good week so far. This week I was interested to read a research review about the effectiveness of retrieval practice and spacing as compiled in August 2022 in Nature Psychology. This, for me, was an interesting link to Dr Wood’s session at the start of the January planning day which mentioned ideas about the power of discussing ‘how you learn’ with students.

Objectives: To review the existing literature about effective learning strategies, particularly looking at retrieval practice and spacing.

Summary: 

• Retrieval practice and spacing have been discussed as important learning strategies rooted in neuroscience for a number of years, and yet they are still underutilised by students

• Particularly if students are going to learn using more technology and in more student-centred ways, their autonomous processes and strategies for learning are becoming increasingly important

• The article argues that students should treat learning and revision as akin to a ‘fitness routine’  designed to achieve specific goals - doing specific things (including retrieval practice) at specific times (spacing). 

• Effective spacing is argued to be extremely important for long term memory creation across all ages. When combined with retrieval practice, the benefits of both techniques are significantly amplified. 

• The authors conclude that educators should look to consider how they introduce students to the ideas of ‘learning routines’.  

How does this impact me and my practice?: Some reflections arising from this that might be helpful to consider are: 

• How am I currently speaking to students about ‘how to learn’?

• How am I using spaced learning and retrieval practice currently? How could I amplify this in my practice and in our curriculum?

• What would a ‘learning routine’ look like in my subject?

• What support do I need for this?

 

Please do get in touch if you would like to talk further about this - I’d love to hear from you!

Bitesize Research: Cognitive Load Theory

By Conor Nesbitt

This week, we wanted to share with you the report from the New South Wales, Australia Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation on cognitive load that we’ve been reading in the WA Thinking Teachers group.

Objectives of study: To outline the key principles of cognitive load theory, and explain how the impact this may have on teachers.

Summary of findings:  

• Cognitive Load Theory is well founded on current research that shows two things about how we learn: (1) the amount of new knowledge we can learn (called our working memory) is limited and (2) how much of our stored or long term memory we can use at any one time is potentially limitless. 

• We store our long term memory in ‘schemas’. When completing tasks we use ‘schemas’ to reduce our cognitive loading (e.g. have you ever driven home and realised you can’t recall how you got there? -- this is our schema at work). 

• Teachers can help reduce cognitive load to help support students move learning from working memory to stored memory by reducing demand on working memory. 

• In order to stop cognitive overload teachers need to find the balance between too much challenge and too little that student attention is lost on other things. Incorporating “I do, we do, you do” modelling activities is effective in reducing extraneous loading. 

• Teachers should try to reduce students’ extraneous load by limiting the use of dual information streams (e.g. asking students to read and listen at the same time). Instead teachers could use dual-coding to support explanation. 

How does this impact me and my practice?: Some reflection questions arising from this that might be helpful to consider are: 

 

• How can we reduce extraneous load by reducing unnecessary and complicated tasks? (e.g. printing tasks on the same piece of paper, developing a clear success criteria for all writing in your subject). 

• How could you incorporate using “I, we, you do” modelling strategies when introducing new tasks to reduce cognitive load (especially in maths and science)? 

• How will you ensure that there is a release of responsibility to ensure cognitive demands aren’t too low? 

• How do we plan to incorporate retrieval and spacing to ensure students are using their stored memory in order to reduce demands on working memory?

A recording of the Thinking Teachers Group discussing this research can be found here:

If anyone would like to discuss this further with me - please comment below! I’d be delighted to open up these discussions and conversations.

Bitesize Research: Rewards and the Impact on Memory

This week, I wanted to share with you a study published by Nature Communications in April 2020 by Aberg et. al from the University of Geneva.

Objectives of study: It is well established that rewards or praise have a positive impact on memory; knowledge retention is more likely when connected to praise.  However, this study looked at two unique areas; firstly how rewards had a long-term impact on memory and knowledge retention, and secondly how the accumulation of rewards impacted knowledge retention.

Summary of findings:  

• The best results for memory retention were not associated with the highest accumulation of rewards. 

• This suggests that both motivation and challenge were equally important - if the task is too easy or too difficult, motivation decreases and that affects our brain’s ability to encode information. 

• In the brain, memory is primarily managed by the hippocampus, a region of the brain responsible for encoding and storing memories. 

• When a reward is involved, however, another brain region is activated - the ventral tegmental area - which is involved in the reward system and responsible for the release of dopamine related to the satisfaction of obtaining a reward.

• The dialogue between these two brain areas helps maintain motivation, improve learning, and consolidate memories, even over time

How does this impact me and my practice?: Some reflections questions arising from this that might be helpful to consider are: 

• How do I use praise and rewards to support students’ memory retention?

• When students are able to demonstrate the retention of knowledge, what praise can we offer to ensure that motivation, as well as consolidation of learning, is strong over time?

• How can I ensure I am offering a good level of challenge to support motivation?

If anyone would like to discuss this further with me (Jaya) - please comment below! I’d be delighted to open up these discussions and conversations.