Strategies That Make Learning Last

• Reading detailed text without getting the overall gist of the reading. (not optimal)
• Highlighting - If they don't get the gist, they aren't highlighting important points.(not effective)
• Cramming. (short-term fix only)
• Rereading only the highlighted points. (weak boost to memory)

"Rooting around in memory, trying to remember something, is a great way to ensure that the memory sticks." ~ Willingham

ELABORATIVE INTERROGATION - Make connections between what you're reading and what you already know."
SELF-EXPLANATION - Justify why the reading is valid and/or reasonable.

BENEFITS of elaborative interrogation and self-explanation:

• encourages thinking deeply about the meaning of the text
  
• increases comprehension
  
• easily learned techniques
  
• no need to model
  
• does not take a lot of practice

CAVEATS of elaborative interrogation and self-explanation:

• it's hard to use if the participant has little background knowledge of the text

Separate study sessions out 10%-20% of the time you would like to remember the material. For long-term memory, it is important to continually spiral relevant material in every year in more advanced ways.

• For many students, "infrequent tests mean infrequent studying. Teachers can discourage cramming and encourage students to keep up with the content by giving frequent low-stakes quizzes or assignments that require some study." (Williangham, 14)

Interleaved Practice is where multiple things are mixed and practiced together rather than teaching in isolation.

BENEFITS of interleaved practice:

• not difficult for the teacher
• students get to distinguish one type of problem from another
• struggle at first, leads to a stronger conceptual understanding and long-term retrieval.

CAVEATS of interleaved practice:

• seldom observed in textbooks
• requires some planning for the teacher
• students FEEL they are learning less because they struggle through problems that have different algorithms.

Watch this great video that compares interleaved practice vs. blocking (isolated) practice: http://gocognitive.net/interviews/benefits-interleaving-practice

Quizzing regularly and providing feedback is connected to distributed practice and interleaved practice. It provides a great boost in memory.

BENEFITS of practice testing

• short quizzes are better for memory than rereading
• immediate corrective feedback from the quizzes is beneficial to long-term memory
• even if there is no feedback or answer retrieval fails a child, it is still better than rereading
• the memory boost is long-lasting
• gains on unit tests, cumulative semester tests and end-of year tests improved 13%-25% from taking regular quizzes
• students can quiz themselves when studying
• *teachers in Huffman ISD can use performance assessments in TRS to create quizzes

CAVEATS of practice testing

• it may FEEL to the student like it doesn't work. However, the struggle is what makes memory stick.
• it is important to provide that corrective feedback to students in order to maintain the highest level of retention.
• Constant quizzing can damper a student's motivation, so space them out appropriately and make sure to look at your class as a whole to decide what is best for you and your students.

These techniques are just a piece of the classroom puzzle. It is important to look at your classroom as a whole to see what works best for you.

Willingham, D. T. (2014, October). Strategies that make learning last. Educational Leadership, 72(2), 10-15.