Free Recall Writing as Retrieval Practice¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

After reading an educational text, students write down as much as they can remember without viewing it, with no feedback required. The chapter states "Free recall is an effective retrieval practice strategy for promoting long-term transfer to inference and problem-solving questions". The same logic applies to building concept maps from memory rather than while viewing texts.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Students attempt recall without access to the text.
• Final assessments can include inference questions, since free recall has transferred to them in the reviewed studies.

Constraints¶

• The chapter states further research is needed on ways to extend the effectiveness of free recall; explanation prompts added to free recall had mixed effects.

Target Learners¶

• College students reading educational texts

Target Learning Goals¶

• Long-term retention of text content
• Transfer to inference and problem-solving questions

Related Strategies¶

• Retrieval Practice

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Karpicke, J. D. (2017). Retrieval-Based Learning: A Decade of Progress. Learning and Memory: A Comprehensive Reference, 2nd edition, Volume 2. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809324-5.21055-9