Four retrieval opportunities
Examining the pros and cons of each
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You will struggle to find a teacher who does not believe that giving students opportunities to revisit concepts they have studied in the past is important to prevent them from forgetting what they once knew. If you need further convincing, I interviewed Nick Soderstrom, one of the world’s leading researchers into memory, on my podcast.
The question then becomes: When do we provide students with these retrieval opportunities?
I think teachers have four such retrieval opportunities at their disposal:
Do Now
Low-Stakes Quiz
Woven into the current topic
Homework
Let’s examine the pros and cons of each one.
1. Do Now
Teachers often use the start of the lesson to revisit concepts students have met in the past.
Main pros: When done regularly, this can form part of a routine that settles students and sets them up for success for the rest of the lesson. You can also cover many concepts each week.
Main con: If students do not take it seriously (e.g. by Busy Tricking) then valuable lesson time is wasted.
2. Low-Stakes Quiz
Teachers may set aside a significant portion of a lesson each week or fortnight to do a quiz on concepts students have met in the past.
Main pros: The longer time compared to a Do Now not only means more topics can be covered, but also topics that require specialist equipment such as protractors, compasses and calculators. Students may also take this more seriously than a Do Now.
Main cons: It eats into curriculum time, and if students miss the Low-Stakes Quiz lesson, then they miss a big chunk of their retrieval practice.
3. Woven into the current topic
Teachers often skillfully weave topics students have encountered in the past into the current unit. Negative numbers into a unit on averages, or solving equations into a unit on angle facts, for example.
Main pro: This feels less of a bolt-on than retrieval during the Do Now and Low-Stakes Quiz, helping students see the interconnected nature of mathematics.
Main con: It is tricky to weave in certain topics. Try weaving in rotations into a unit on cumulative frequency diagrams, or simultaneous equations into a lesson on percentage increase. This means students may not get an opportunity to revisit some concepts.
4. Homework
The best homeworks I see do not just assess students’ understanding of the topic they have just studied, but also includes questions on subjects students have encountered in the past. (See what we do at Eedi at the end of this newsletter)
Main pro: This is the only retrieval opportunity that does not take up precious lesson time. As a result, students can spend as long as they need on any given question.
Main cons: Teachers have less knowledge about who has done the retrieving. And the simple fact is that many students - often the ones we most need to do retrieval - do not do their homework.
Eedi’s retrieval system
While we are talking about retrieval, let me remind you of Eedi’s super-duper, completely free retrieval system.
Once you have set three topic assignments for your students, you unlock the ability to set retrieval practice. Eedi learns exactly what each of your students needs, and responds accordingly. We set each student their very own, bespoke retrieval quiz, based on questions they have struggled with, but also topics they have mastered in the past to make sure they don’t forget things.
Just like all our quizzes on Eedi, students can resolve any difficulties by watching our high-quality worked example videos. They can secure their knowledge with our carefully designed fluency and intelligent practice questions and finally master the concept with our stretch and challenge questions.
All of this is orchestrated for you and your students automatically once you assign retrieval practice.
Oh, and it is 100% free :-)
To get started, and help your students remember all the things they once knew, just head over to eedi.com
Which of the above retrieval opportunities do you use?
What are your strategies for helping students make the most out of them
Let me know in the comments below!
🏃🏻♂️ Before you go, have you…🏃🏻♂️
… checked out our incredible, brand-new, free resources from Eedi?
… read my latest Tips for Teachers newsletter about questions with more than one correct answer?
… listened to my most recent podcast with Ollie Lovell about CPD, Atomisation, struggle and more?
… considered booking some CPD, coaching, or maths departmental support?
… read my Tips for Teachers book?
Thanks so much for reading and have a great week!
Craig