Retrieval Practice in Primary School Students: A Case Study

What is Retrieval Practice?

Put simply, Retrieval Practice is a technique which enables children to recall what they have learnt. It strengthens knowledge retention and encourages young learners to engage with and use new skills and knowledge. Therefore, retrieval practice is a powerful revision tool which schools are utilising across the country. 

Sophie Morris, KS1 Lead at Ryarsh Primary School in Kent describes how their journey into Cognitive Science research and retrieval started and how this practice has grown and adapted to the benefit of their students. 

What Retrieval Practice looks like at Ryarsh Primary School

Initially, our upper KS2 teachers were fantastic at designing meaningful, interesting and varied ways of approaching retrieval with the oldest children. However, when it came time to share our ideas and best practices in CPD meetings, we often found that many of the recommended tasks, question templates or designs just weren’t suitable for a class of 4 or 5 year-olds (unless you had time or adults to spare aplenty!)

Recognising the importance of retrieval and knowing that it is absolutely key in any classroom. My EYFS, KS1 colleagues and I set about creating a list of Retrieval Practices that would require minimal reading, writing and time on the children’s part and could be quickly used throughout any lesson with young children to ascertain understanding, to encourage retrieval and to further embed learning.

Caveat: The examples I have provided are real questions that we have used as Retrieval Practice with our Year 1 children. They are often simple, one-word or close activities and lean heavily on visual memory cues. This is largely because such activities lend themselves well to our youngest pupils who are still mastering the skill of basic writing in order to respond.

These retrieval tasks are ideal recaps of learning, being both low stake and offering high success rates for the children. As a team, the EYFS and KS1 teachers also provide much more open-ended, discussion-based retrieval opportunities in every lesson.

1) Multiple-Choice Questions

Multiple-choice questions are a firm retrieval favourite with teachers of all age groups. When thinking about this for the youngest children, we considered either:

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

If using this for phonics or spelling, do not rely on Word as we discovered the children are quick to twig the red “spelling” lines! 

Example: Which is the correct spelling?  

1. play
2. plai
3. pleigh
4. plae

2) Map or Diagram

Ideally, within a lesson, you might want pupils to label a complete diagram or a map. But, in an attempt to create a speedy EYFS/KS1-focused retrieval task, we ask them to colour in or circle a specific section or area to prove recall. 

Example: Find and colour in Kent.

3) Matching Up

This is, in itself, a simple task that has been used by teachers and in tests for hundreds of years. But it can also be useful to evidence understanding quickly. You might match up words to pictures, pictures to pictures or words to words depending on the subject matter, understanding and the ability of the pupils.

Example: Match the vehicle to its transport mode.

4) Photograph or Diagram of Sequences

This can be particularly helpful when learning about processes in science or events in history; provide a picture/photograph/diagram and ask children to draw what happened before the picture or what happened next.

Example: Here is a tree in Summer and then in Autumn, draw what would happen to the tree during the next season?

5) Order the Pictures

As above, this also lends itself well to science processes and historical events if they can be simplified down into basic pictures

Example: Can you order the trains from first to be invented to most recently invented?

6) Fill in the Blanks

This is exactly as it says on the tin. Most of the written leg-work is done for the pupil, there are just one or two written words needed for retrieval. Depending on the point of understanding and recall, the abilities of the class or pupil and how well embedded the learning is, you could make this easier by providing a word box or adding the first letter of each word needed

Example: Fill in the blanks:

The opposite of strong is ________________.

The opposite of heavy is ________________.

The opposite of waterproof is ________________.

7) True or False

This is a simple retrieval task which we would often use at the start of a topic when learning is still quite fresh as it is not too cognitively demanding and, with only two options, can feel less daunting or demanding on younger pupils. The advantage of this is that it very quickly identifies easy misconceptions and can preface a lengthier in-class discussion about why it is or isn’t true, what other information we know to support this or what the statement would actually be true for.

Example: Are the following statements true or false about mammals?

1. We are cold-blooded        True or False
2. We have fur or hair          True or False
3. We breathe through gills True or False
4. We have live babies  True or False
5. We are invertebrates  True or False

8) Circle the Correct Answer

This is a simplified (and is therefore often quicker for younger pupils) version of MCQs. Rather than the standard four answers, I would usually only offer two or three options with this activity.

Example: 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.

Thank you to InnerDrive and Ryarsh Primary School for sharing this blog article with us. 

If you are interested in working at Ryarsh Primary School, register your interest with them via our website today and you will be notified when new vacancies are posted on Kent-Teach.