Retrieval Practice

consists of studying by answering questions and actively bringing information back to mind. This strategy works because the act of retrieving information creates new connections between pieces of knowledge and strengthens students’ understanding of that topic.

Distributed Practice and Interleaved Practice

are all about spreading out study sessions and switching between topics. Combined, they are basically the opposite of cramming. Distributing and interleaving study sessions help to keep information fresh on pupils’ minds and also help them to create more and new connections between prior knowledge and novel content.

In STEM subjects, interleaving problems from different topics teach students how to figure out the correct strategy from the question itself, leading to a deeper understanding of that content. It also helps students to differentiate between similar concepts.

An article written in 2012, by Professor Barak Rosenshine arrived at similar conclusions when analysing strategies used by successful teachers in the classroom. He recommends that teachers start every lesson with a quick review of previous topics. This is effectively done with low-stake quizzes and checking for understanding.

Despite these and many other articles, most school students are still investing time in ineffective learning techniques.

The third main reason for the low number of pupils using effective strategies is that these techniques are counter-intuitive. That is, when students read notes, for example, it feels like they know that content very well. On the other hand, attempting to retrieve information may reveal that the content is not as mastered as students thought. To change their chosen strategy, students need to be convinced that some difficulty and effort during learning are desirable and are what will ultimately make their knowledge stick.

How can we change that?

As mentioned before, one of the main reasons students do not use effective learning techniques is that they simply do not know them. The first step is that schools discuss these strategies and the science behind them with pupils.

This can be done in the form of assemblies delivered by teachers and invited guests. It can also be done as a collaboration between science teachers and other subjects. For example, psychology and biology teachers can explain some of the cognitive mechanisms behind learning and memory, while the language teachers discuss the structure of a scientific paper, and the maths teachers work with the analyses and interpretation of graphs published in these papers.

Another way to increase the number of students that use evidence-informed learning strategies is to offer them tools that make the process easier. For example, the Youtube channels created by The Learning Scientists and Ali Abdaal are great to give students real examples and templates to use good strategies.

Also, free websites, such as Seneca Learning, are entirely based on the effective strategies mentioned above, which make it easier for students to learn with it. Teachers can also apply the strategies in the classroom. Some blogs have great ideas and suggestions as to how to do that, including The Effortful Educator and A Chemical Orthodoxy, and Science Toolkit.

Conclusion

Cognitive sciences have revealed that some strategies are more effective than others. Retrieval, spaced and interleaved practices are some of these best techniques. However, research has also shown that most students still rely on ineffective strategies that are faster, easier and more common, but do not contribute to long-term learning.
Resources that embed good strategies into their methodologies are powerful tools to change this scenario. Online learning, for example, allows students to interact and engage with the material in ways that printed resources cannot, explicitly telling students about the different techniques and the reason why some of them work better than others is the first step to help pupils become more effective learners.