What is retrieval practice and how is it used in preserving memory? Long breaks from school can lead to forgetting and negative impacts on learning. To address this, retrieval practice is used to actively recall and use learned information, promoting long-term retention and identifying areas that need further study. The Keep in School Shape (KiSS) Program provides regular retrieval practice opportunities, helping students exercise their brains and maintain their knowledge during academic breaks.
You’ve probably heard, “If you don’t use it, you lose it!” This is the sad reality of what happens to physical skills if they are not practiced for long periods of time. But did you know that it’s true for cognitive skills as well? They also grow rusty – or are even forgotten – if they’re ignored and not regularly rehearsed.
There’s a lot of research showing that over long breaks from school K through 12 students forget many things that they’ve learned. And it’s true for college students, as well. Taking time off from school negatively impacts students of all ages and across all subject areas. And this is especially true for mathematics, which builds on previous knowledge and skills.
So how can we help students keep their cognitive skills up to speed when school is not in session? Well, one solution is to give them opportunities to regularly test themselves on what they’ve learned.
This is what’s called “retrieval practice.” It’s the act of trying to remember something by bringing it to mind and using it.
For example, if you try to think through something that you learned in a mathematics video you watched at some time in the past, you are engaging in retrieval practice.
This is a powerful learning strategy. Cognitive scientists have shown that retrieval practice produces durable long-term learning – even better than reviewing material by rereading your notes.
Retrieving learning from memory has two major benefits. First, it tells you what you know and what you don’t. With this information in hand, you can focus your studying on the things that trip you up and cause you grief. It’s like having a personal study guide that’s tailored to your own specific needs.
Second, when you call to mind something you’ve learned, your brain reconsolidates the memories and strengthens the connections to what you already know. Stronger connections mean it will be easier for you to recall the information in the future – so that you can not only apply it when the same situation arises again, but also have it available for use in a wider variety of problems.
Retrieval practice is more effective when it’s spaced out over time, rather than being crammed into a single session. If you think of your brain like a muscle, it’s the benefit you get from exercising regularly rather than trying to get results from an intense workout.
But how can students exercise their brains regularly when school is not in session?
The Keep in School Shape Program (or KiSS Program for short) that I developed is one way of delivering regular retrieval practice opportunities to students over academic breaks. Students who sign up for the KiSS Program get a math review activity daily over academic breaks so that they are flexing their “brain muscle” by recalling some math that they know and using it. And the KiSS Program makes retrieval practice convenient for students since they can get their daily review via text or email and test themselves on whether they remember a particular skill or concept that they’ve recently learned and need to maintain for their future learning.
Creative and innovative ways of delivering retrieval practice opportunities to students - both in the classroom and when school is not in session - help students use what they’ve learned so that they don’t lose valuable ground on their educational journey.