Inexpensive Techniques to Improve Education

Applying Cognitive Psychology to Enhance Educational Practice

Roediger & Pyc (2012)

Time for a fun activity 🚂

Reflection 🪩

How did this activity change (or reinforce) the way you think about learning or studying?

The three techniques

#1: Distribution (spacing and interleaving) 🍃

  • Instead of blocking questions together based on subject, mix them up for better long-term retention.
  • Review material repeatedly, at various times.

#2: Retrieval Practice 🐕

  • Practice the skill of retrieving information from your mind without looking it up
  • Testing oneself reinforces memory better than simply rereading

#3: Explanatory Questioning 🤔

  • Generate plausible explanations about why something is true
  • Elaborative Interrogation = asking why; self-explanation = what do I know about this topic that could help me understand it?

Key quote to discuss 🏎️

"Fast learning can produce faster forgetting."

Slides available at ziahassan.com/inexpensivetechniques