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How can we make

learning stick?

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Learning teaching and assessment reflect an appropriate balance between ongoing and periodic assessment.

Collaborative planning is key when considering what knowledge and skills we want our young people to develop in a specific unit of work but also how we want them to develop this knowledge and/or skills as well as how we will check for understanding along the way. We can be skilled when considering types of summative assessment but sometimes ensuring there is a rich evidence of formative assessment at every stage of the learning cycle can prove more challenging. Gathering evidence along the learning journey helps to provide vital data that determines whether we can move the learning on or whether we need to slow the pace and revisit or re-teach particular elements to ensure that crucial foundation of knowledge or basic understanding of a skill is solid for each learner. Worth considering what the progressive journey of the learners is across all the stages - when identifying core knowledge about language and literacy for a P3, what aspects of the P3 experience need to be revisited in P5? When introducing the idea of natural disasters in P4, what information or what skills need to be revisited in P7 and beyond?

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How learning happens

Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli

Without attention and without thinking there is no learning. Securing our learners’ attention, especially when new concepts are introduced, is vital for any chance of learning taking place. It is inevitable that our learners’ minds will wander given any chance of a distraction: another learner talking; noise from the corridor or outside; busy wall displays or displays that are not relevant to current learning; gimmicks that do not connect to the new concept…We need to provide learners with questions and tasks that hook their curiosity and make them think from the start. We need to ensure that ALL learners are involved in thinking and accessing the material. Working memory is where we consciously process information with our prior knowledge, so that hopefully we can introduce these things into long-term memory. Our working memory is really limited in capacity whereas long term memory is virtually unlimited in its capacity (think about it like a bottle: the neck of the bottle is narrow and this represents working memory with its limited capacity; the ‘bell’ of the bottle is much larger hence representing the unlimited capacity of our working memory).. We need to work to retrieve information from our long term memory and return it to our working memory so that we can use it. When PLANNING, we need to consider how we are going to enable our learners to have opportunities to rehearse key information in order to move it between working memory to long term memory and back again.

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‘Understanding of retrieval practice has now become part of the culture and language of learning in many schools so now is the time to take the next steps; implementing, embedding and reflecting on retrieval practice in the classroom.’

(Kate Jones)

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What is retrieval practice?

‘Retrieval practice is a learning strategy where we focus on getting information out. Through the act of retrieval, or calling information to mind, our memory for that information is strengthened and forgetting is less likely to occur. Retrieval practice is a powerful tool for improving learning.’

(Dr Pooja K. Agarwal, ‘How to use retrieval practice to improve learning’, 2020)

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Discussion Task

Working with a partner, come up with a definition for retrieval practice for a particular age and stage.

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How long should we wait before retrieving?

‘We must prepare for forgetting and accept this as part of the learning process.’ (Kate Jones, 2019)

‘...as a rule of thumb, the closer you are to forgetting a piece of information (before it completely drops out of the brain), the more likely it is that you will benefit from revisiting it.’ (Busch and Watson, ‘The Science of Learning’, 2019)

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Our learners need to know about Ebbinghaus

Consider your definition of retrieval practice. How would you use this diagram with your age and stage of learners, to support/adjust that definition?

The forgetting curve tells us that:

as soon as you learn something, you begin forgetting it almost immediately.
the rate of forgetting is often shockingly high; a few hours after learning something, people routinely remember only a small fraction of it.
each time you practice recalling what you know, the rate and amount of forgetting is reduced somewhat.
retrieving something back into working memory slows the rate of forgetting, but how and when the retrieval happens is important.

But a Forgetting Curve cannot tell you exactly what the rate of retention will be for your students generally or for a specific student at time A or time B for a specific topic you’ve taught. There are individual differences and factors in the learning environment, like how much attention students are paying and how new to students the information is/ There are differences in content too: abstract and complex ideas; simpler and more concrete.

And it also leaves open what the magic number of times students have to engage something to learn it. Graham Nuthall’s Hidden Lives of Learners proposes that whether a student was exposed to content three times can predict with 80-85% accuracy whether they successfully learned it.

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Dr Carl Hendrick, 2025

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Where does retrieval practice fit into our lesson planning?

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Efrat Furst’s Model

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Collaborative Planning for Learning and Memory

Core Knowledge?
Core Skills?
Common Misconceptions?

Think about a current unit of work. What are the common misconceptions?

How do you plan to help learners avoid these?

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Free Recall versus Guided Retrieval

The vast majority of research into retrieval practice focuses on secondary or university students however, there is growing research that provides us with clear guidance as to how retrieval practice can be an incredibly useful tool in the primary sector. A study published in 2014 by Karpicke and colleagues, stresses the need to ensure that any retrieval practice in the primary classroom should be guided and not simply free recall. Scaffolding of retrieval tasks is essential particularly for our younger learners. Karpicke’s experiment involved providing one group of learners with a question map and the text in front of them, then completed another question map without the text in front of them. This was compared with a test group who simply got to read the text twice. Those who completed the question map recalled more of the information compared with those who simply read the text twice. Practising recall with helpful scaffolds really did make a difference.

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Brain Dump or Knowledge Drop

‘Write down everything you can remember about glaciated upland areas.’

‘Write down everything you can remember about factors influencing voting behaviour.’

‘Write down everything you can remember about obstacles to the abolition of the slave trade.’

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Spill the tea!

Fill the tea cup with as much information about… as you can.

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Jam this jar with as much information as you can about…

Fill this paint pot with as much information about…

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Find the sweet spot!

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Multiple-Choice Retrieval

Completing a question as a whole group on the board with hands up.
Completing a question as a whole group on the board with whiteboards for individual answers.
Completing independently (possibly read aloud) but with picture answers or one-word answers to circle.

Which is the correct spelling?
plai	(b) pleigh	(c) play	(d) plae

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Effective Use of Multiple Choice Questions

Multiple Choice Questions
An investigation was carried out to measure the change in body mass in a population of adult locusts kept in a tank at 25 °C. The percentage of food converted into body mass was recorded over a three-week period. The reliability of the results could be improved by: decreasing the length of time of the investigation increasing the mass of food given to the locusts increasing the number of locusts in the tank decreasing the temperature in the tank.

Elaboration Task

Can you tell me why the other options are incorrect?

Can you add anything to the correct answer?

What else do you know about…?

e) I don’t know yet.

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Find and annotate…

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Matching Up

12 + 37 =

40 + 21 =

16 - 12 =

odd

even

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What comes before/after…

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Picture Prompt

Explain in your own words, from memory, how each icon is linked to what we have studied about King Arthur.

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Keyword Grids

Destruction	Epicentre	Magnitude
Tremor	Seismic	Aftershock
Tectonic Plates	Infrastructure	Richter Scale

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Tell the Story…

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True or False?

Are the following statements true or false about mammals?

We are cold-blooded. True False
We have fur or hair. True False
We breathe through gills. True False
We are invertebrates. True False

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Circle the correct answer/Cross out the incorrect answer

Circle the correct castle part:

The battlements/moats are the upper part of the castle walls with higher bits to hide behind and lower bits to shoot through.

The bailey/drawbridge is an enclosed courtyard in the middle of the castle grounds where the keep/towers are found.

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Find It! Fix It!

Robert the Bruce is one of the most famous prime ministers that Scotland has ever had. In the early 1300s, he fought fearlessly against Irish rule and ultimately returned Scotland’s independence.

The small intestine takes out the bits of food that the body cannot use - like vitamins and fats. It sends these around the body in the bloodstream.

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Discussion Task

Which of these retrieval tools do you already use and how are they effective?

Which of these retrieval tools do you think you could develop for a future piece of work and why?

Multiple Choice Questions
Find and colour in
Matching up
What comes before/after…
Fill in the blanks
Tell the story
True or False
Circle the correct answer
Find it! Fix it!

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Key Words: What key words did you learn last lesson?

Image: Draw an image of something from this topic, that having found difficult when you learnt it, you now understand.

Sentence: Write a sentence using 3 key words from this topic.

Question: Write a question based on this topic that you could ask a classmate.

Topic:

Complete each task for the topic to score a bullseye.

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Challenge Grids

Perhaps points add too much to cognitive load?

Remove these for low stakes retrieval.

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Retrieval Pyramid

Factual recall questions

1

Point

2

Points

3

Points

4

Points

A way to scaffold different questions leading to higher order thinking. (Kate Jones)

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Noughts and Crosses Retrieval

Where does this poem take place? Write down an example of something the poet mentions that tells us this.	Quote two words he uses that connect the poem to the idea of death. Explain why you think he chooses to use these words.	Explain how you think the speaker feels about being in the hospital. Include a quotation to support your answer.
Explain in your own words what the speaker thinks about the nurses he describes.	The poet describes the patient’s IV drip as a ‘glass fang’. What creature is he comparing the drip to? What does this suggest about the way he sees the patient?	The poet describes that he is ‘growing fainter’. What two different meanings could we understand from this phrase?
What is strange about the phrase ‘fruitless fruits?’	Explain how the poetic techniques used by MacCaig creates sympathy for the sick woman	Referring closely to this poem and at least one other poem by MacCaig, show how he uses imagery effectively.

Give pupils a blank noughts and crosses grid.

They have to try and complete three questions in a row either horizontally, vertically or diagonally.

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Noughts and Crosses Retrieval

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Retrieval Relay Race

Henry VIII

Second Tudor King, son of Henry VII.
Most famous for having 6 wives: divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded & survived.

Henry fell out with the Pope because he wouldn’t let him divorce Catherine, so he created the Church of England and made himself the head of it.

Henry was not originally the main heir to the throne - brother Arthur was but he died.

Henry married Catherine of Aragon from Spain who was first married to his brother, Arthur.

Henry closed down the monasteries to gain more money and break with Rome so everyone would obey him and not the Pope.

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Cops and Robbers

What were the implications of the UK’s decision to leave the EU?

Cops	Robbers

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Cops and Robbers (and Investigators)

Cops: Write down everything you can remember about the implications of the UK’s decision to leave the EU.	Investigators: Write down any questions you have about the implications you’ve identified and any key vocabulary that needs re-investigating.	Robbers: Discuss with your peer what you have in your ‘Cops’ and ‘Investigators’ boxes. ‘Rob’ your peer’s ideas and add them to this box.
	e.g. The EU’s open border put pressure on UK services but there are benefits - what are they?

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Think it, Link it - Nat 5 Applications

	a	b	c	d
1	probability	chance	likely or unlikely	decision making
2	certain or impossible	formula	tree diagram	expected frequency
3	experimental probabilities	risk	systematically	statistics
4	estimation	outcomes	basic probabilities	impact on life

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Roll and Retrieve

2 x 4	48 ÷ 4	8 x 4	8 ÷ ? = 2
36 ÷ 4	3 x 4	Write out your 4x tables	6 x 4
What is ¼ of 24?	4 ÷ 1	4 x 4	Can you find one quarter of 100?
12 x 4	16 ÷ 4	28 grapes, 4 children. How many grapes each?	10 x 4

1

3

2

1

4

3

2

4

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Connect 4 - Think like an historian/geographer

shell shock	boredom
conscientious objectors	dilution

	social indicators
GNP

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Misconceptions Retrieval

Misconception	Correct or better answer? Try and give an example where you can.
Concerto grosso features a single solo instrument with the melody line, accompanied by the orchestra.
Musique concrète uses tubes and stuff to make sounds.
Interrupted cadence is where the bossy chord is not followed by the one you think it’s going to be.

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Expand and Elaborate

Expand and elaborate
The genome is an organism.
A mutation is a change in the DNA that can result in no protein or an altered protein being synthesised.
Single gene mutation is the alteration of a DNA nucleotide sequence.

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Memory Monday, Throwback Thursday or Flashback Friday!

Questions	Answers	Self-review	2nd Attempt

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Discussion Task

Which of these retrieval tools do you think you could develop for a future piece of work and why?

Retrieval Pyramid
A-B Questions
Noughts and Crosses Retrieval
Retrieval Relay
Cops, Robbers and Investigators
Think it, Link it
Roll and Retrieve
Connect 4
Misconceptions Retrieval
Expand and Elaborate
Memory Monday, Flashback Friday

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Pyramid Reflection

1 question I have about retrieval

2 things I am going to do in continuing my exploration of retrieval

3 words that summarise retrieval for me

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Professional Learning Resources

Click on image for link to book.

Click on image for link to podcast on retrieval.

Click on image for link to Youtube webinar with Kate Jones.

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