At the back end of January 2011 I was reading the research findings by Jeffrey D. Karpicke, Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences at Purdue. In a nutshell, Karpicke’s research shows that practising retrieval is an even more effective strategy than engaging in elaborative studying – mind mapping. Given that it is now fast approaching revision season, here it is again (a “thank you” to Ruth Digby who kindly shared her resources with us recently). Tried and thoroughly tested.
So after reading around a little I wanted to create a ‘game’ or retrieval exercise to help our students prepare for their exams. Now on version 3, I think we have an automated, customisable revision tool worth sharing. In this example, I have used terms associated with GCSE English Paper 1.
GAP or genre, audience and purpose are the parent terms, with examples colour coded accordingly. Fact, Opinion and Call to Action are common examiner terms and the final category.
Here is how it works.
The convincer: You tell the students that this technique is 50% more powerful than more elaborate revision techniques and the text readers such as mind maps. Tell the students to simply follow the instructions on the screen but you will be strict. Build up the task.
Then reinforce the on screen instructions.
Words up, pens down.
When the guillotine comes down, students must try and recreate the sequence (words and shapes) in the same layout, on a blank page. (Recommend you do this at the back on the book or on scrap.)
As soon as the words reappear, pens down.
In version 2 we added the numbers in the top right hand corner to show the students which blast they were on.
In version 3 we lengthened the time given to ‘retrieve’ the sequence but you can customise this yourself to suite your students using the animation pane.
What happened in class
Students were typically very focused and on-task throughout. There were exceptions with one or two students rejecting the NEW task. Why? I am not sure, it is demanding, it is hard work, but they may have just not enjoyed the task of learning key terms.
Importantly, results were typically impressive. After 3-4 practices, (once or twice a lesson), students were able to recreate the sequence after just 5-6 blasts. More importantly, at the end of the lessons, some 30 minutes later, students were able to remember and list 17-22 key vocabulary terms. For D-C students, having the appropriate terms available to express themselves, might just impress the moderator and tip the balance in their favour. (If the class are G-C).
Help yourself, test it yourself and share your feedback. Its currently being road tested in other subjects at school, so its certainly not subject specific. English teachers, I have other examples if your interested.
Download here Karpicke Revision Tool
Update: purdue.edu/newsroom
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More than ten years later
This was my first practical application of retrieval research. The paper this post refers to is Karpicke & Blunt (2011) “Retrieval Practice Produces More Learning Than Elaborative Studying with Concept Mapping.” I do not remember too much about reading and applying the insights, but I do remember the press release, being reminded, and the brightly colours charts that accompanied the paper and student created mind-maps about sea-otters? I think? It took nearly three years to put those insights into practice and to be confident enough to share them.
In the model above, we have spaced, repeated retrieval practice. There is no feedback as such. It appears to hold the D-C students attention and arm them with the key terminology. I know the Value Added for this group (it was a tough leadership year, under difficult circumstances) and I was proud of their achievement.
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