An interesting presentation on the role of retrieval, spacing and interleaving in the curriculum from Mark Esner.
Presented at the ResearchEd Conferences this year (2019). Click on the image below to view the presentation.
For additional information, see the original blogpost from Mark here.
Referred to within the TEEP cycle as ‘Construct meaning’ and ‘Apply to demonstrate’.
Students need to be provided with opportunities to practice. This can be done firstly through Guided Practice. Here, the students take what they have learned and use it to complete a task with the help of the teacher.
During the guided practice phase, the teacher and teaching assistant(s) will circulate around the classroom, monitoring the work and giving advice and feedback to individual students or provide additional guidance and support to those who need it. If common issues are noted, this could also involve bringing the class back together to clarify or address common misconceptions from the front.
This monitoring during the guided learning phase also allows the teacher to determine when students are ready to move onto Independent Practice.
Then through Independent Practice, students complete a task by themselves without any help, using the knowledge, understanding and skills that they have been taught and practised during the Guided Practice phase. This practice could consist of making something, solving a series of problems, completing an extended writing task etc.
Practice to enable ‘Sticky Learning‘.
How can we help students retrieve knowledge, understanding or skills in the future so they can apply these in different contexts?
Below are some links regarding retrieval practice, spaced learning and interleaving.
Retrieval practice
Spaced learning
Interleaving
Teaching Bites 