The power of retrieval practice
Attempts to recall some knowledge from memory result in reinforcing those memories Retrieval practice is about testing your knowledge to produce learning, rather than to assess learning
Properties of effective retrieval practice prompts
should be focused
It’s usually best to focus on one detail at a time.
should be precise
Vague questions will elicit vague answer
should produce consistent answers
lightning the same bulbs each time you perform the task.
Otherwise, you may afoul of an interference phenomenon called “retrieval-induced forgetting” https://andymatuschak.org/prompts/Murayama2014.pdf
Should be tractable
To avoid interference-driven churn and recurring annoyance in your review sessions, you should strive to write concise prompts. This often means breaking the task down, of adding cues.
Should be effortful
Don’t make prompts too easy to answer. Retrieving process is important.
Example : How to make chicken stock
Bad examples
not precise
Q. What do you need to make chicken stock?
→ should we recall the quantities or just the names of the ingredients?
not focused
Q. How much chicken stock are we making?
Good examples
The factual question
Q. What type of chicken parts are used in stock?
A. Bones
The explanation prompt
The explanation question will reinforce the knowledge captured by the factual question, making facts more meaningful.
Q. Why do we use bones to make chicken stock?
A. They’re full of gelatiin, whick produces a rich texture.
More precise
“Why do we use bones to make chicken stock?” is a fairly good prompt, but “Because bones are economical” can be an answer as well .
Q. How do bones produce a chicken stock’s rich texture?
A. They’re full of gelatin
Lists
Q. Typical chicken stock aromatics:
- ???
- carrots
- celery
- garlic
- parsley
A. Onion
Q. Typical chicken stock aromatics:
- onion
- ???
- celery
- garlic
- parsley
A. Carrots
Using lists with cloze delations is effective to retrieve multiple related memories.
Be sure to keep the list in the same order.
Cues
If you find yourself struggling with these prompts, it can be helpful to add a cue, like this:
Q. Typical chicken stock aromatics:
onion
carrots
celery
garlic
??? (herb)
A. Parsley
But don’t make it too easy to retrieve the answer.
Writing good prompts often involves interpretation
“How much chicken bone is in a batch of chicken stock?” can be interpreted as
Q. What’s the ratio of chicken bones to water in chicken stock?
A. A quart of water per pound of bones
Q. How much onion to use in chicken stock per pound of chicken bones?
A. Half an onion per pound
Q. How much carrots/celery to use in chicken stock per pound of chicken bones?
A. 1 carrot/celery rib per pound
Q. How much garlic to use in chicken stock per pound of chicken bones?
A. 2 smashed cloves per pound
Prompts are cheaper than you probably imagine. Making coarse and complex questions to reduce time cost is counter-productive as a result.
How to write good prompts: using spaced repetition to create understanding