‘Retrieval practice’ often conjures images of quick quizzes completed at the beginning of a lesson. While this certainly is a form of retrieval, this also highlights a potential pitfall of implementing retrieval. Professor Rob Coe suggested retrieval strategies could fail if:
“Teachers might generate retrieval questions that focus solely on factual recall (these questions are easier to generate) rather than requiring any higher-order thinking.” (Coe, 2019)
In this new ‘Voices from the Classroom’ video, James Bird – Head of History at Mary Webb School & Science College – explores how they plan for and use retrieval practice in their History curriculum.
“We want the students to obviously learn facts and figures, but we want to use that to develop their understanding of the substantive knowledge, the second order concepts.”
James explores how our curriculum design offers chances for retrieval through the revisiting of previous concepts, allowing us to make meaningful links to recurring themes.
“Our curriculum is spiral in its nature and although the topics change throughout the key stage throughout the year, the concepts are always going to be there.”
We hope this latest video supports colleagues to reflect their practices around retrieval and how you might review your existing strategies and professional development to allow for greater emphasis on retrieval to deepen conceptual understanding.
If you want to explore these ideas further, you may want to read:
- EEF blog: Not another quiz! Refining retrieval practice | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)
- Guest Blog: Retrieval practice – A common good or just… | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)
- EEF Blog: Does research on ‘retrieval practice’ translate into… | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)
- The EEF’s Cognitive Science Evidence Review – see pages 21 – 23 for retrieval practice