Retrieval and Metacognition

‘You’ve taught it, but have they learned it?’ How often have we, as teachers, delivered a great lesson, which generated pupil progress, only for all evidence of this to seemingly disappear by the next lesson? While this is demoralising for teachers, it is unsurprising. Cognitive science states that up to 75 per cent of new learning is forgotten within a week unless it is revisited. This course will explore how to balance the pressure of curriculum content with the need to revisit prior learning.

In addition, metacognition is much lauded in the latest educational research with an effect size of 0.7 – roughly equating to +8 months of additional learning. As such, it has a key role to play in optimising pupils’ retrieval skills and memory strength and so will be explored in tandem within this course, which will provide busy teachers of all stages with a range of practical, pedagogical tools for use in their practice.

Author: Claire Gadsby

Course details

Area

Teaching and learning

Duration

1-2 hours

Suitable for

Classroom teacher, Head of year, SLT, Subject leader, Teaching assistant

Aims and outcomes

  • Understand what is meant by retrieval and why it is so important.
  • Explore the key role of metacognition in supporting effective retrieval and long-term memory.
  • Introduce classroom strategies that boost metacognitive and retrieval skills.
  • Be able to apply the principles and strategies in your own practice.
  • Learn how to develop and embed metacognition and retrieval.

Course content

  • Unit 1: What is ‘retrieval’ and why does it matter?
  • Unit 2: Practical classroom strategies to develop retrieval skills
  • Unit 3: Metacognition and its key role in supporting retrieval and long-term memory
  • Unit 4: Practical classroom strategies to develop metacognitive skills

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