How can we support students in retaining course content so that they can demonstrate mastery on assessments and apply their learning in other contexts? Hear from Dr. Michelle Miller, a professor of psychological sciences and President’s Distinguished Teaching Fellow at Northern Arizona University, about practices you can implement to help students commit new knowledge to memory.
Ask Yourself: What’s one bit of knowledge you can recall from your own formal education? Why do you think you’re still able to remember it?
Ask Yourself: What strategies have you used to help students establish a coherent framework of course concepts? Have they been successful? Why or why not?
Ask Yourself: What are some benefits of retrieval practice? What are some strategies you currently use to help students retrieve knowledge in your courses?
Ask Yourself: What is one retrieval practice strategy that you would like to add to your course? How do you think it will help students learn and retain more challenging concepts?
Ask Yourself: How might you teach students about distributed practice?
Ask Yourself: Does interleaving seem relevant to students learning concepts in your discipline? If so, how might you incorporate interleaving into your teaching?