Support effortful strategy use by making students aware of the benefits of retrieval practice and providing hints¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 5 studies (2 quant-synthesis, 1 causal, 1 review, 1 theoretical), q2–q4 · 4 of 5 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

Because students experience retrieval practice as more effortful than restudy and tend to avoid it in self-regulated learning contexts for memory-based tasks, the editorial states that "interventions are needed to aid learners in acknowledging the higher effort as a desirable difficulty and increase the use of retrieval practice during self-regulated learning". Making students aware of the benefits of retrieval practice and providing hints are described as promising ways to do so. Future research should collect observational measures of students' self-regulated learning decisions and multiple subjective and objective measures of effort during retrieval.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Interventions must help learners recognize when higher effort is a sign of a desirable difficulty

Constraints¶

• Students struggle to recognize when a higher effort is and when it is not a sign of desirable difficulty

Target Learners¶

• students engaged in self-regulated learning with memory-based tasks

Target Learning Goals¶

• increased use of retrieval practice and durable long-term learning

Claims¶

• Students experience retrieval practice as more effortful than restudy, which leads to avoidance despite its long-term benefits [+W]
• Retrieval practice improves long-term retention [+S]

Related Strategies¶

• Retrieval Practice Training
• Incorporating Methods for Self-Testing
• Retrieval Practice Activities
• Give students minimal direct instruction that retrieval practice beats restudying and that items should be recalled correctly three times before being dropped
• Train learners in task selection based on prior performance and invested mental effort to optimize effort regulation

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• de Bruin, A. B. H., Roelle, J., Carpenter, S. K., & Baars, M. (2020). Synthesizing Cognitive Load and Self-regulation Theory: a Theoretical Framework and Research Agenda. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-020-09576-4