Retrieval practice: what it is and examples

Retrieval practice is a procedure that promotes greater retention and learning through repetition and reinforcement of acquired knowledge.

Its benefits go beyond strengthening long-term memory, as scientific evidence shows that this strategy enhances information retention, promotes skill transfer, and facilitates the personalization of training content to maximize its impact on learners.

We invite you to join us in this introduction to retrieval practice that we have prepared. By the end of this article, you will know what it is in detail and with practical examples, which will be a first step toward improving your students’ educational experience.

What is retrieval practice in studying, and why is it important?

Retrieval practice is a cognitive process by which previously learned information is recalled from memory, rather than being re-exposed to it.

It involves trying to remember something you have learned without consulting the original material, as in self-testing or answering questions without consulting your notes. In this way, the learning process transforms passive review into active mental engagement.

This process of mentally reconstructing knowledge is a powerful tool for consolidating long-term memory, much more so than reviewing or rereading what you have studied.

Theoretical foundations of retrieval practice

The foundations of this method are found in cognitive psychology, particularly in the studies conducted by Henry Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke. In their research The Critical Importance of Retrieval for Learning (2008), they highlight the fundamental role of retrieval practice in learning and memory.

They proposed an experiment to a group of students that consisted of learning pairs of words in Swahili and English. They were divided into four groups that operated under different conditions:

1. Standard condition (ST): people studied the words and were tested in each cycle.
2. SNT: once a word was remembered correctly, it was only tested, but not studied again.
3. STN: the remembered word was not tested again, but it was studied.
4. SNTN: the remembered word was removed from the study and from the tests. In short, it was not revisited.

What do you think the results were? Well, at first, the four groups learned the words at the same speed and with similar performance levels. However, the students in the ST and SNT groups, which introduced information retrieval dynamics, remembered approximately 80% of the words, compared to 33% or 36% in the STN and SNTN groups.

An interesting fact: repeating the study, reading, or reviewing the words did not improve long-term retention. What did have a very positive result was repeating the retrieval of information through a self-test or quiz.

The conclusion of the experiment by researchers Roediger and Karpicke was clear. Retrieval practice, through repeated testing or self-examination, is much more effective at consolidating learning than repeated review. In other words, active retrieval is key to long-term memory.

Retrieval practice vs active recall

Retrieval practice is a structured, repeated, and assessable way of performing active recall. Therefore, in principle, all retrieval practice involves active recall, but the reverse is not true.

Thanks to its methodical and systematic application, active recall can generate the greatest benefits in learning and long-term memory.

How does retrieval practice work according to science?

Numerous studies in cognitive science, such as the one we have just seen by Roediger and Karpicke, strongly support the effectiveness of retrieval practice.

Its success is based precisely on how it works:

• The act of remembering information, even if the memory is incorrect, reinforces neural connections associated with knowledge, which facilitates its retrieval in the future because “the path to that information is already known.” This responds to the maxim “use it or lose it.”
• Remembering always requires effort. This type of “Desirable Difficulties,” a principle researched by Robert A. Bjork, Professor of Psychology at the University of California, produces more lasting learning. This is because by making learning more difficult and less accessible than rereading notes, it forces the brain to work more actively in retrieving or processing information, which reinforces long-term memory.

For all these reasons, incorporating practices such as tests, active recall exercises, or self-exams improves comprehension, the transfer of knowledge to new contexts, and develops critical thinking.

In addition, students become more aware of what they actually know, as well as their gaps, thanks to the implicit work of metacognition, that is, reflection on their own learning process.

Working memory & retrieval practice

The process of retrieval practice involves moving information from long-term memory to working memory so that it can be used.

In this way, working memory is strengthened in two different ways:

1. It reduces the load because as memories are consolidated and become more accessible through active recall, the person needs less space in their working memory. This frees up mental resources for complex tasks such as learning new content.
2. It improves learning, especially for students with poor working memory, as they receive feedback after retrieving information and improve the availability of information.

To a certain extent, retrieval practice helps to automate knowledge, facilitating the processing of new tasks, which indirectly reduces frustration and cognitive overload in students who have greater difficulty in learning.

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Benefits of retrieval practice for students and teachers

The benefits of retrieval practice are not limited to students; teachers can also improve their procedures.

This study methodology helps students to:

• Improve long-term retention of what they study.
• Identify areas they have mastered and those that require reinforcement.
• Better understand information and connect concepts more effectively.
• Increase their confidence when facing exams and other assessments.
• Develop critical thinking and knowledge transfer, both in school and in their personal and professional lives.
• Reduce anxiety about assessments because students become familiar with a dynamic of non-punitive assessment environments, where tests and other assessments are just another resource for improving learning, not for penalizing mistakes.

For their part, teachers benefit in the following ways:

• They receive feedback that helps them better understand what their students have actually learned and what has been most challenging for them. This allows them to quickly identify and correct misunderstandings and redirect their lessons.
• They access valuable information that facilitates the preparation of more personalized and effective instructional design that improves the student experience and outcomes.
• These techniques can be used at any level, from K-12 education to higher education or vocational training.
• They can easily implement retrieval practice. For example, at the beginning or end of each class, they can use short quizzes or brain dumps, where students write down what they remember from the class.

Error management as added value

Something really significant about this type of practice is how errors are managed. Far from penalizing them, they become an opportunity to better consolidate learning.

This is because students who face real retrieval challenges make mistakes and, if they receive corrective feedback, they can further reinforce learning and strengthen neural connections. After correction, students incorporate the correct information and make their memory more flexible.

Thus, mistakes are accepted as part of the process, students are not afraid to make mistakes, and they can focus on learning rather than just getting it right.

Researchers such as Rosalind Potts and David R Shanks in their article The benefit of generating errors during learning have shown that generating incorrect answers followed by correction with the correct information significantly improves retention of what has been learned. All this is true even if students are not aware of this benefit at first.

Examples of retrieval practice in the classroom

Here are some examples of activities that will help you introduce retrieval practice in class. Do it gradually so that your students get used to it.

Brain Dumps

This simple technique involves stopping the class and asking your students to write down everything they remember about a topic, without consulting any sources of information.

You can ask them to extract and reconstruct knowledge from something they have just seen in class, or something they studied days or weeks ago, in which case you can use methods known as spaced repetition.

Low-stakes quizzes

These are assessment forms that normally have no impact on the student’s final grade. This means that students can try to answer the questions, receive feedback, and try again until they have mastered the topic.

This type of activity promotes progressive mastery of content, making it very useful for complex concepts or units.

Exit tickets

These are short questionnaires given to students at the end of each class to answer brief questions about what they have learned in class or about their own learning process.

They are very valuable because students become aware of how they learn, and teachers can gather valuable information that allows them to tailor their teaching to the real needs of their students.

Mini whiteboards

This is one of the techniques recommended by researcher Janell Blunt, who bases her studies on the research findings of cognitive scientist Dr. Pooja K. Agarwal.

This activity involves students writing answers to questions on small whiteboards during class. It is a very flexible exercise, as you can ask them to answer in all kinds of formats other than words, such as diagrams, drawings, etc.

Think-Pair-Share

These three steps make up one of the most effective retrieval practice activities.

The activity is based on the following: each student thinks about the question posed by the teacher and writes it down on a piece of paper or in a digital note. They then share it with one or more classmates, and compare their answers in pairs or in groups.

Peer tutoring

In this activity, two students, who may be of the same age (same-age tutoring) or of different ages (cross-age tutoring), help each other: one takes on the role of tutor and the other that of student.

The tutor reinforces their knowledge by actively recalling what they have learned and explaining it to another person (as advocated by the Feynman technique).

For their part, the person acting as the student receives personalized explanations, which helps them to internalize the information better. This activity also reinforces a culture of cooperation in the classroom.

Retrieval grids

This technique allows you to work on spacing and interleaving (mixing topics).

Questions or stimuli related to different topics are added to a grid or table. For greater impact, professionals who have used this technique recommend using colors.

Spaced repetition beats the forgetting curve, as recent concepts are reviewed with older content.

After completing the grid, students share their answers and receive feedback first from their peers and then from the teacher.

Techniques for retrieval practice at home

With the activities we suggest below, your students can practice retrieval practice at home, helping them to become more independent learners and improve their self-regulation.

You can also adapt them to prepare your classes; they can be a good exercise:

• Flashcards. Use physical or digital cards with apps such as Anki or Quizlet. Write the questions on one side and the answers on the other. Before checking the answer to a question, retrieve the information in your mind or write it down separately, and then check whether you got it right or not. Flashcards are very versatile because you can use them to program different spaced repetition scenarios, for example. You can also use symbols or images instead of questions to improve the relationship between concepts and activate different cognitive mechanisms.
• Teaching someone else. We have already told you about the benefits of telling someone else what you have learned. This effort to recall information reinforces what you know and highlights any gaps in your knowledge that you need to work on.
• Mock exams. Ask a family member or classmate to prepare a mock exam for you and try to recreate the atmosphere of an exam in your environment. Answer the questions and don’t forget to check your answers against your notes or textbook.

These techniques not only reinforce learning but are also really effective in helping students prepare emotionally and cognitively for tests.

Common misconceptions about retrieval practice

Throughout this article, we have seen that implementing retrieval practice in the classroom will provide you, as a teacher, and your students with great benefits for improving the teaching-learning process.

To help you improve your results, we have compiled the most common misconceptions about this strategy:

• It is a graded test. No, it is not a grading tool, it is a learning strategy.
• It encourages rote memorization. No, when applied correctly, it promotes deep understanding.
• It can only be used in subjects based on scientific data or facts. No, it can be used in all kinds of subjects, such as humanities, sciences, arts, and any other discipline.
• It takes too much time to work. Not at all. Five minutes of retrieval practice is enough to see benefits in long-term information retention.

Retrieval practice in the classroom: tips for teachers

The following tips will help you improve your students’ retention and enhance their classroom experience:

1. Introduce retrieval practice activities gradually. You can start with one quiz per week to help students become familiar with active recall.
2. Explain that you will not grade the activity, but that it is an exercise to improve knowledge acquisition, at least at first. Later, you can introduce some of the retrieval practice techniques into your graded assessments, as explained in the next section.
3. Combine different types of tasks. This will prevent monotony and increase challenges, which, according to Professor Bjork’s theory of desirable difficulties, improves long-term retention.

Evaluating learning through retrieval practice

If you want to introduce retrieval practice into formal assessments, you can apply several techniques that take advantage of the benefits of this strategy without altering the formal nature of the assessment.

For example, one of the most widely used resources is open-ended and essay questions that students must answer without given options. This forces them to retrieve the information from their memory in its entirety.

Here are some more ideas that may be useful:

• Add self-explanatory blocks in which students have to reason in writing, or aloud if they are oral exams, how they arrived at the solution they have proposed. By explaining their reasoning, they work on actively connecting knowledge.
• Introduce interleaving. Instead of presenting blocks by topic, mix questions from several topics. This forces students to recall varied information.
• Offer formative feedback after the exam. For example, review the exam with students by asking them to explain their incorrect answers and offer corrective feedback. This allows them to understand where the error was made so they can try not to repeat it.
• Ask predictive questions so that students have to anticipate results and establish relationships between content, rather than simply recalling facts mechanically. Elaborative interrogations will be very helpful.

These types of resources allow you to distinguish between simple knowledge and genuine understanding, preparing students to apply what they have learned throughout their lives.

In short, retrieval practice is not only a popular method in teaching, but has been validated by numerous studies as a fundamental component of evidence-based instruction, introducing quantifiable improvements in academic performance.

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Request a free demo and discover how you can make your retrieval practice-based assessments a tangible educational tool.

Further information: resources to learn more about retrieval practice

The following resources will help you continue learning about the topic covered in this article:

• In this video, Professor Robert Bjork talks about how the process of retrieving information makes it more accessible.
• The website Retrieval Practice was founded by Dr. Pooja K. Agarwal, one of the leading researchers on the topic. There you can find a wealth of resources such as practical guides, templates for teachers, free access to research, and more.
• The Learning Scientists is a space where cognitive psychologists such as Megan Sumeracki share articles, resources, and podcasts geared toward application in US schools.