Give students minimal direct instruction that retrieval practice beats restudying and that items should be recalled correctly three times before being dropped¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The article recommends a minimal instructional intervention in which educators tell students that repeated retrieval practice is more beneficial for learning than repeated studying, show evidence of the benefit, and give a concrete implementation rule: recall each item correctly at least three times before dropping it from study. The authors suggest teachers "might embed retrieval practice strategy instructions into homework or study guides" rather than devoting lecture time.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Instructions should emphasize the mnemonic benefits of retrieval practice to counter inaccurate metacognitive beliefs and provide direct instruction about how to implement the repeated retrieval strategy.

Constraints¶

• Experience-based interventions alone may be unlikely to teach students about the effectiveness of repeated retrieval practice, because students largely view retrieval practice as a self-assessment tool.

Target Learners¶

• college students
• students learning factual material such as vocabulary

Target Learning Goals¶

• long-term retention of factual content
• effective self-regulated study strategy use

Related Strategies¶

• Flashcard Drill
• Low Stakes Quizzing
• Support effortful strategy use by making students aware of the benefits of retrieval practice and providing hints

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Ariel, R., & Karpicke, J. D. (2018). Improving Self-Regulated Learning With a Retrieval Practice Intervention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000133