All in For Researchers
While we talk about the benefits of retrieval practice a lot here at the Learning Scientists, we usually talk about the benefits of retrieval practice for already learned information. However, retrieval practice has also been shown to be beneficial for learning new information.
The Yerkes-Dodson law is used frequently in performance settings. It has been applied to everything from work productivity to sports performance and the impact of anxiety on learning. But how did this research finding become a “law”? And how well has this been replicated?
In a previous blog post about retrieval practice, Cindy asked, is asking questions in class enough? She covered an experiment by Magdalena Abel and Henry Roediger (1) in which students studied Swahili vocabulary in a few different conditions. In one of those conditions, students graded …
Self-regulated learning is particularly important in contexts like medical school where learners have to efficiently and independently learn large amounts of information. A recent study with medical students examined the effects of teaching about self-regulated learning and maintaining a learning diary on students’ self-regulated learning and course performance (2)
Even among the top effective, evidence-based study strategies that we write about, spaced practice is one of the best. Spaced practice is all about when you engage in practice. It is better to spread practice out over time, rather than massing (cramming). This is true whether you are reviewing …
No strategy works all the time. Not even retrieval practice. Today I want to share a new Open Access article (so you can go read it for yourself if you’d like!) that *spoiler alert! found a situation in which restudying was actually better for retention than retrieval.
