Earlier this month, a new analysis of NAPLAN data found that students in under-served schools with deep, sustained investment in great teachers gained up to 3.7 months of extra learning.
It’s a clear reminder that the best teachers don’t simply teach content – they teach the science of how learning works, giving young people tools that make every lesson count and support learning for life. Indeed, those tools go well beyond taking notes and rereading them until something sticks. The evidence points to something far more powerful – retrieval practice.
But what does it look like in action?
On some days, a lesson might start with a quiz that tests students on what they have recently learned, with some questions designed to test what students have learned previously. Or a teacher might ask students to summarise a concept in their own words or formulate some questions on a specific topic to ask classmates.
In an English class, rather than simply reciting the plot of a book, students might instead describe why they believe a character behaved in a certain way. In some subjects, students might pair up and revise information they’ve learned together or create their own flashcards to help them memorise and embed facts.
Making knowledge stick for the long haul
“When we learn something new, that information initially goes into our working memory. From there, some of that information is encoded and stored in our long-term memory,” Patrick Sanders, Head of Teaching & Learning at Haileybury, told The Educator.
However, research shows the human brain is designed to forget a great deal, simply because memory can’t hold on to every piece of information learned each day.
German psychologist, Hermann Ebbinghaus, first illustrated this natural process with a diagram called the ‘forgetting curve’. He discovered that when we first learn new information, within 10 days or so, that information is often forgotten.
Reviewing new information regularly, however, greatly improves the chances of it being stored in long-term memory.
“In our long-term memory, we want to hold on to core knowledge, like the knowledge we use in academic learning. So, we build networks of knowledge in our long-term memory as we select, organise and integrate new information,” Sanders explained.
“That’s where retrieval practice is important because retrieving details from our long-term memory helps secure that information, and that helps us better understand concepts, synthesise and analyse, and solve problems. It allows us to make connections between concepts and knowledge that we learn over time, so we can think in a more complex way.”
For teachers, there are many ways to utilise retrieval practice in the classroom which are quick and effective as diagnostic tool, Sanders noted.
“It highlights what concepts students are struggling with, and teachers can respond to that by re-teaching those procedures and content again and then ensuring students have to retrieve that information again at a later time.”
Raising critical thinkers in a ‘post-truth’ world
Retrieval practice is used across year levels and subjects at Haileybury and not only does it help students to retain information for longer and to think more deeply, it also supports young people to become good citizens and to have a deeper understanding of issues that shape and challenge society.
“It helps them think deeply about issues and to be sceptical sometimes. It builds an understanding that not everything that they read, see or hear is always the full truth,” Sanders said.
In an era when social media, AI and fake news are prolific, the ability to question and to develop a healthy scepticism is becoming increasingly important.
“The current social media landscape has so many ‘experts’ and influencers telling young people that certain things are true when they aren’t. They can hear some crazy stuff online,” Sanders said.
“Retrieval practice helps young people build their knowledge and think more deeply and I think that builds better citizens and a better democracy overall.”