Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning

by Pooja K. Agarwal

we focus on four powerful teaching strategies based on the science of learning: retrieval practice, spaced practice, interleaving, and feedback-driven metacognition.

Just because you know something once doesn't mean you'll always remember it.

One of the best ways to make sure something sticks and gets stored is to focus on the retrieval stage, not the encoding stage.

just because we learn something easily does not guarantee we'll remember it.

Doug Lemov, author of Teach Like a Champion 2.0, defines retrieval practice as follows: Retrieval practice occurs when learners recall and apply multiple examples of previously learned knowledge or skills after a period of forgetting.

If we want students to think on a higher-order level, then we should make sure our retrieval questions are basic and higher-order.

provide a mix of fact-based retrieval and higher-order retrieval if that's the type of learning you want to see in your students.

Transfer of learning, or simply called transfer, is the application of concepts or information in new situations.

retrieval practice is a learning strategy, not an assessment strategy.

Brain Dumps. Pause your lesson, lecture, or activity. Ask students to write down everything they can remember. Continue your lesson, lecture, or activity.

Provide the opportunity for peer feedback. Ask students to swap their Brain Dump with a neighbor for 1–2 minutes, have them add something new that wasn't already written down, and pass back the Brain Dump.

Is there anything in common that both of us wrote down? Is there anything new that neither of us wrote down? Did either of us write down any misinformation? Why do you think you remembered what you did?

have students write down Two Things about a specific prompt. For example: What are Two Things you learned so far today? What are Two Things you learned yesterday (or last week)? What are your two takeaways from this unit? What are Two Things you'd like to learn more about? What are two examples from your own life that relate to today's lesson?

retrieval practice in my classroom is in the form of brief low-stakes quizzes at the beginning of each week

if students know in advance that they will be taking an open-book quiz, they spend less time studying and have poorer performance on a final exam, compared to if they know they are taking a closed-book quiz.

Just because something seems “active” doesn't mean that learning sticks.

In a large internet-based study led by Nicholas Cepeda in 2008, researchers found that the optimal amount of spacing for long-term retention was approximately a 1:10 ratio.5 For example, in order for research participants to remember information for 30 days, it was optimal to space retrieval every 3 days; in order for participants to remember information for 200 days, it was optimal to space retrieval every 20 days.

when it comes to the “biggest bang for your buck,” quizzes that are spaced and delayed a few days after initial learning are the most powerful for long-term learning.

For the greatest boost in learning, provide retrieval opportunities during or after lessons – and any is better than none!

Years of cognitive science research have established that interleaving – simply re-arranging the order of retrieval opportunities during spacing without changing the content to be learned – can increase (and even double) student learning.

college students were extremely overconfident in their predictions after re-reading. On average, they estimated they'd remember 64% of the reading passages, but one week later, they only remembered 48% of the passages.

illusion of fluency. Typically, when current learning feels fluent or effortless, students think that learning and retention will be effortless and easy in the future.

Without feedback, students' metacognition can remain overconfident and out of sync with their actual learning.

feedback does not equal grades.

ask yourself these power questions: What is the essential question for this chapter? What information do my students have to know in order to answer it? How will I support students in retrieving this information? At what intervals will I space retrieval practice? Am I able to interleave content and mix it up? What types of feedback can I use to support my students' metacognition?

You may not be able to cover the exact same amount of content, but with Power Tools, students remember more and forget less.

When it comes to my weekly retrieval practices, for example, I drop the lowest four grades and each one is worth only 2% of students' total grade. This lowers the stakes and students become more mindful of missing class versus picking up an extra shift for their job, going to a doctor's appointment, or catching up on sleep.

All of this might sound like I don't make any accommodations at all. To the contrary, I do. By emphasizing learning strategies, spacing out content, interleaving and mixing it up, and providing elaborative feedback, (1) flexibility is built in, (2) students learn more and feel more confident, and (3) everything is low-stakes, so they feel more comfortable holding themselves to the same expectations as other students in class.

Anxiety increases when: Retrieval occurs infrequently (e.g., only during exams) Retrieval is associated with high-stakes assessments Retrieval is either correct or incorrect

72% of students reported that retrieval practice (which also included immediate feedback) made them less nervous for tests and only 6% of students said that retrieval made them more anxious

It's powerful to use research-based principles in the classroom. But that's not enough. You also need students to recognize the value of Power Tools inside the classroom and adopt Power Tools outside the classroom.

Step 1. Empower students by sparking a conversation. Step 2. Empower students by modeling Power Tools. Step 3. Empower students by fostering an understanding of why Power Tools work. Step 4. Empower students to harness Power Tools inside the classroom. Step 5. Empower students to harness Power Tools outside the classroom. Step 6. Empower students to plan, implement, and reflect on their Power Tools.

Another question I ask my students: How many of you have been taught how to learn? Unfortunately, very few students answer in the affirmative. I inform students that the most important part of my job is to teach and reinforce strategies that will help them learn.

Let's learn OUTformation, not just INformation. The contrast between getting information “in” versus “out” is a favorite phrase of ours. Now, make it even more simple with OUTformation instead of INformation!. This simple and straightforward phrase emphasizes why retrieval practice is effective, even for younger learners.

Desirable difficulties don't feel good, but they're a good feeling to have.

One of our first strategies to help students make Power Tools their own is to have a conversation where students Name That Tool. In this way, you can develop a shared vocabulary you and your students use throughout the semester; a vocabulary they created, rather than one you created.

Help students use flashcards more effectively with Retrieve, Reorder, Repeat:

how often is professional development actually evidence-based?

When it comes to educator preparation, every future teacher must have a deep understanding of desirable difficulties, metacognition, and the critical importance of retrieval.