Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10953/3178
Title: Testing the Effectiveness of Retrieval-Based Learning in Naturalistic School Settings
Authors: Ortega-Tudela, Juana M.
Lechuga, M. Teresa
Bermúdez-Sierra, Miriam
Gómez-Ariza, Carlos J.
Abstract: While the learning benefits of retrieval activities have been clearly demonstrated in laboratory settings, evidence on their usefulness in naturalistic school settings is still scant. The goal of the present studies was to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of retrieval-based learning in children (fourth and sixth grades) when school teachers themselves design and implement retrieval activities relating to genuine curriculum contents. Three studies were conducted in a public elementary school with fourth and sixth graders and their teachers. Two of the studies involved mathematics and one dealt with social sciences. Teachers used learning activities that required students to recall part of previously taught concepts, while different concepts in the same unit were worked through with those learning activities that were normally used by each teacher. Two out of three studies revealed that, relative to business-as-usual learning activities, performing retrieval activities during classes led to better performance in the assessments at the end of the lessons. Overall, our finding provides preliminary evidence that retrieval activities can enhance learning in elementary school children when they are devised by teachers in the exercise of their professional duties. These results have important practical implications and suggest that, if teachers are aware of the value of retrieval activities in fostering meaningful learning, these activities could be successfully embedded in their daily duties even when considering the constraints imposed by school reality.
Keywords: Retrieval-Based Learning
Naturalistic School Settings
Issue Date: 2021
metadata.dc.description.sponsorship: Consejería de Economía, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidades from Junta de Andalucía. Spain. Programa Operativo FEDER Andalucía 2014-2020 (Proyectos_FEDER_1262768).
Publisher: Sage Journals
Citation: Ortega-Tudela, J. M., Lechuga, M. T., Bermúdez-Sierra, M., & Gómez-Ariza, C. J. (2021). Testing the Effectiveness of Retrieval-Based Learning in Naturalistic School Settings. SAGE Open, 11(4), 21582440211061569. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211061569
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