Guess: what is one of the most effective ways students can learn new material?
It might not be what you think -- it's not creating diagrams or concept maps, and elaborating on those, or re-reading material, or highlighting, or going over notes. It's...
...retrieval practice.
Or in layman's terms: quizzing. (More about that here and here, in the New York Times, here in one of the original studies published, and here, in a study about optimal spacing of retrieval practice.)
Now, "retrieval practice" can mean a variety of techniques -- the initial study that prompted this conclusion involved students engage in a "free recall" writing quiz. But the effects also seem to hold for many forms of quizzing, including a time-tested and time-honored method:
Or in layman's terms: quizzing. (More about that here and here, in the New York Times, here in one of the original studies published, and here, in a study about optimal spacing of retrieval practice.)
Now, "retrieval practice" can mean a variety of techniques -- the initial study that prompted this conclusion involved students engage in a "free recall" writing quiz. But the effects also seem to hold for many forms of quizzing, including a time-tested and time-honored method:
flash cards.
(Streicher, Diane. "Flash Cards - Latin." Photograph. 4 May 2012.
"Flashy Fun." Diane Again. Web. 08 Nov. 2013.)
