On Monday, February 18, Dr. Lisa Fazio, an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University, will be a giving talk at CBBSG 12-1pm in Corbett E378. Details about her talk are below. Free food for attendees will be served from 11:50am.
The effects of retrieval practice on learning: Moving towards the real world
Over the past decade there has been a resurgence of interest in the beneficial effects of retrieval practice as a study strategy. Activities that involve retrieving information from memory such as answering test questions and recalling a text are more effective at improving learning than restudying, concept mapping, and other study techniques. These benefits occur on both verbatim and transfer tests, when students do and do not receive feedback, and in laboratory and classroom studies. Yet, most of the research still focuses on college students learning factual information (e.g. “The sun is fueled by converting hydrogen to what element?”). During this talk I will present research designed to expand what we know about retrieval practice to deal with different populations, different materials and more complex situations. Specifically, I will discuss how the effects of retrieval practice vary developmentally, whether retrieval practice is also beneficial for learning novel mathematical procedures, and how teachers use retrieval practice in their classroom discourse.