Week 1

SMART Learning Objectives

At the end of the tutorial, students will define Retrieval Practice and Testing Effect.
At the end of the tutorial, students will identify two benefits of Retrieval Practice.
At the end of the tutorial, students will identify proper action words to use while writing learning objectives.

Content Summaries

Preface

New research during the past several years has revealed that traditional methods of study are ineffective for learning. Instead of studying subject matter sequentially, the topics should be related and consistently reviewed while new material is learned. Repeating important topics within different contexts empowers students to better retain that knowledge (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014).

Chapter 1

For countless students throughout the years, the most common forms of study included reading, taking notes, memorizing, and cramming, all to obtain a good score on the test. Yet how many students still remember that material after the test has been completed? Instead of using tests simply as a measurement of learning, why not use them in the learning process? In a method that the author states as "Retrieval Practice" (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014), students constantly quiz themselves while studying the material in order to strengthen their memory retention.

Frequent, consistent quizzing forces the memory to recall and reprocess the material, thus strengthening the retention. Multiple studies across different grade levels and student abilities demonstrated that quizzing while studying provided improved results on time delayed tests, versus reading and re-reading alone (Brown et al., 2014).

Chapter 2

The previous chapter introduced the concept of frequent consistent quizzing to greatly improve memory retention of the studied material. One method of doing so can be reflection (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014). In the musical The Music Man, Professor Harold Hill constantly told the band members to use the "think system". While not completely correct as implemented in the story, a form of the "think system" can be used by reflecting on actions that were just performed. Analyzing the results of an event forces the mind to not only recall the knowledge, but also the actions that require that knowledge. Reflection also requires a higher order of thinking by providing an opportunity to process what went well, and what needs to be improved upon. Reflecting on improvement forces the mind to further process current and new knowledge within different contexts, in order to determine how to apply it for future improvement (Brown et al., 2014).

A specific example of frequenting quizzing is the Testing Effect (Brown et al., 2014), which repeatedly forces the recall and processing of knowledge. This method is effective for traditional and motor skills. Students generally fear tests, since in the American educational culture at least, tests include the stigma of absolute failure if not performed well. Thus, adding numerous small quizzes to a curriculum has been met with resistance. In real world studies, students from elementary grades through college improved exponentially on unit tests when they took smaller quizzes throughout the lessons. These quizzes aided in memory retention (Brown et al., 2014). The greater effect was that using this method to establish a strong foundation of knowledge permitted the application of higher order learning, which required that knowledge (Brown et al., 2014). Based on student surveys of these studies, those students who experienced frequent quizzes not only retained up to 92 percent of the material, but also were confident about completing the exam well, and did not have to resort to "cramming" (Brown et al., 2014).

How People Learn, Dr. Roddy Roediger Video

In this video, Dr. Roddy Roediger demonstrates how "traditional" methods of studying during the past 130 years do not guarantee learning. The accepted standard is to read the material and take notes, then reread the material and the notes later when it is time to take the test. In this method, tests are used as a measurement of learning. Dr. Roediger proposes that tests and quizzes should be used as a way to promote learning and memory retention (MSU, 2014).

Is giving students multiple tests and quizzes really effective? According to studies performed by Dr. Roediger and his colleagues, students who only read the material provided did well when the test was given immediately, yet poorly on the test a week later. In contrast, those who were tested often during the study time showed exponential improvement on the same weekly test (MSU, 2014). The explanation from Dr. Roediger as to why this worked is that repeated retrieval is the key to long-term retention (MSU, 2014).

Helping Students Learn: Retrieval Practice Video

This brief video emphasized frequent small quizzes during class time, especially during lectures. Forcing students to repeatedly retrieve information during class aided in memory retention (Craft, 2013).

Creating Learning Objectives Video

Dr. Cline demonstrates how to write learning objectives that are measurable and obtainable by students. Where goals are general statements of the learning that needs to be obtained, learning objectives are specific statements that focus on the student performing an action (Cline, 2012). Using action words like design, describe, and solve from Bloom's Taxonomy in learning objectives requires students to perform that action while learning. By contrast, using words like imagine, understand, and know are too general, and do not require a specific action (Cline, 2012).

How to write learning objectives using Bloom's Taxonomy Video

Learning outcomes for a lesson need to utilize specific action words from Bloom's Taxonomy in order to be specific and measurable. Bloom's Taxonomy is a hierarchical system of learning with six levels: Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating (Budget, 2014). Each level builds on the previous, with Creating requiring the most action and skill. Using Bloom's while writing learning objectives will help to create statements that accurately represent what students will be able to do at the end of the lesson.

Connections to Field and/or Discipline

Students often experience a variety of teaching and assessment strategies during high school, when they can have different teachers for different subjects. I would often have study halls combined in the same room as my classes, and would overhear both the struggling and success stories from the students. Reading about the Retrieval Practice and Testing Effect strategies above, caused me to reflect on my observations of student study strategies. Those who would often be nervous before exams always crammed during the previous class periods. In contrast, those that I observed who used flash cards or quizzed each other often exhibited a lower level of anxiety. Unconsciously, those students were using part of the methods above to help them study and retain their knowledge.

Suggestions for Implementation

Many high school classes may be hesitant to implement a retrieval practice strategy, due to their brief class period times of 45 minutes or less. However, some high schools use block scheduling, which can provide ample opportunity for implementation. History and Science classes can benefit by presenting a few quiz questions before and after the units of study. Teachers with SmartBoards can use the Smart Notebook to dynamically present content and questions during lessons. Also, for videos shown during class, playback can be paused at specific times in order to ask questions on the sections that were just presented.

Formative Assessment

Congratulations on completing this tutorial!

Use these flash cards to quiz yourself on what you have learned.

References

Brown, P. C., Roediger, H. L., & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make it stick: The science of successful learning [Kindle DX version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com

MSU Graduate School. (2014, June 12). How people learn, Dr. Roddy Roediger [Video file]. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tz8gVPHhFE

Craft Educational Videos. (2013, November 19). Helping students learn: Retrieval practice [Video file]. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK6JIUfcOXg

John Cline. (2012, November 17). Creating learning objectives [Video file]. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_woMKwBxhwU

Course Design on a Shoestring Budget. (2014, December 22). How to write learning objectives using bloom's taxonomy [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DgkLV9h69Q

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