WEBVTT

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[Music] Welcome to the overview

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on Spacing Learning over Time

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with Review and Quizzing.

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Ms. Tran is perplexed

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by her students' poor performance

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on the latest unit exams.

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She's given clear lectures

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and homework assignments

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but the exams indicated

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that her students just aren't

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remembering the key facts

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and ideas she taught them.

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After talking to a colleague

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who noticed huge learning gains

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when he started giving frequent,

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ungraded quizzes, Ms. Tran decides

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to begin quizzing her students

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on a mixture of new and review materials

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at the end of each day's lesson.

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She also develops quiz-based games

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and posts them on her website

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for students to play at home.

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In short, she begins

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to space her students' learning

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over time.

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What does it mean

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to space learning over time?

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This teaching technique can be described

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with three principles of practice.

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First, you introduce the key content.

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Secondly, you revisit that content

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with short quizzes

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or targeted homework assignments.

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Lastly, through quizzes

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or review activities,

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ask students to recall key facts weeks

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or even months

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after the original lesson.

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Research studies show the act

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of recalling information strengthens

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memory and makes the information more

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readily available in the future.

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Having students take a test

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or a quiz is almost always more

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effective than having them spend extra

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time re-reading the same material.

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The quizzes are useful

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from a lesson planning standpoint

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as well, as it quickly becomes apparent

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which material students are struggling

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with and need to review.

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When planning lessons,

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be sure to identify the key concepts,

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terms, and skills to be learned.

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Students need to be exposed to these

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at least twice over the course

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of several weeks,

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and ideally several months.

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There are a variety of ways

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to give students multiple opportunities

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to review and recall material,

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including homework, quizzes,

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in-class review and full exams.

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There are online resources

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that can help teachers create short,

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fun games that help students review

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material at home.

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"Fill in the blank"

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or "short answer" quizzes are even more

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effective than "multiple choice"

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because they require students

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to actively recall information,

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which helps students remember

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information longer.

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By answering the questions on the quiz,

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the student is practicing the act

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of recalling information from memory.

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This practice helps solidify the

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information in their memory.

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Typically, quizzes

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and tests are seen purely

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as evaluation tools,

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but they can be extremely useful as part

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of the learning process.

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When a teacher provides correct-answer

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feedback, students become aware of gaps

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in their knowledge

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and get useful information

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to help them focus their future study.

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Also, the very appearance of a question

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on a quiz alerts students to key ideas

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to attend to.

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Students can use self-quizzing

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to help their recall

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and guide their study practices.

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For example, a day or a week

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after being introduced to new material,

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a student can make flashcards

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of key facts he has studied

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and separate the pile

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into facts he knows

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and facts he doesn't know.

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Students can then focus

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on studying the material they

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don't know.

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Creating judgments

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of your own learning breaks the

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"illusion of knowing,"

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the sense that you know the material

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when there's a portion

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that you haven't already mastered.

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Self-quizzing after a delay of hours

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or days, without answers in front

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of you, gives students a more accurate

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sense of what they know

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and can help them study strategically.

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What might spacing learning

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over time look like in practice?

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Every other week,

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a high school social studies teacher

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spends half a class period reviewing

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facts that were covered several

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weeks earlier.

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A middle school math teacher creates

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homework assignments

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that include a few problems covering the

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material that had been presented

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in class one or two months earlier.

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A Spanish teacher gives five-minute exit

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exams at the end of each class

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on vocabulary introduced two

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weeks earlier.

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So, what do we know

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about spacing learning over time?

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Spacing learning over time,

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asking students

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to recall the same important information

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on more than one occasion after a delay

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of weeks or months,

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will help them remember

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that information more effectively

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over the course of the school year.

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Ms. Tran was thrilled

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to see her students' performance

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skyrocket on their final exams.

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The quizzes had both given her help

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in planning review sessions

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and strengthened her students' recall

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of the material over the course

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of the school year.

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To learn more about spacing learning

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over time, please explore the additional

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resources on the Doing What

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Works website.

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[Music]