Craig Barton interviews guests from the wonderful world of education about their approaches to teaching, educational research and more. All show notes, resources and videos here: https://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/
Cognitive psychologist, Nick Soderstrom, joins me to talk about all things memory and retrieval. We discuss the important distinction between learning and performance, and then dive into four desirable difficulties: testing, spacing, interleaving and pre-testing. Links can be found in the show notes: mrbartonmaths.com/blog/how-to-remember
Time-stamps:
- Memory, learning, and career paths with a cognitive psychologist. (7:04)
- The importance of retrieval practice in learning. (12:25)
- Learning vs performance in education. (17:51)
- Retrieval practice and testing in education. (24:26)
- The benefits of testing students and how it can improve learning. (29:35)
- Effective feedback strategies in teaching. (36:11)
- Math testing formats and feedback. (43:03)
- Retrieval practice in math education. (47:37)
- Using retrieval practice and spacing to improve learning. (51:33)
- Spaced repetition in teaching fractions. (56:30)
- Optimal spacing for effective learning. (1:01:01)
- Optimal retrieval practice for learning. (1:05:36)
- Using hints and cues in retrieval practice. (1:10:03)
- Formative assessments and learning vs performance. (1:13:30)
- Interleaving and its benefits in learning. (1:17:41)
- Interleaving in math education. (1:23:55)
- Math education techniques and interleaving. (1:27:53)
- Interleaving practice in education. (1:31:41)
- Pre-testing in education. (1:36:57)
- Assessing students' prior knowledge in math lessons. (1:44:24)
- Pre-testing in education and its potential effects on students. (1:47:35)
- Pre-testing and its benefits in education. (1:52:48)
- Retrieval practice and its effectiveness in learning. (1:57:43)
- Learning strategies and debunking myths. (2:02:21)
- Learning styles, desirable difficulties, and technology in education. (2:08:32)
- Learning vs performance in education. (2:14:37)
- Learning strategies and research-backed techniques for teachers. (2:20:22)
Sponsor details
This episode of the Mr Barton Maths podcast is proudly supported by Casio Education. Check out the fantastic resources they have available for teachers here: education.casio.co.uk/mr-barton-maths
Episode details
Long-time listeners may remember that way back in 2017 I interviewed Bob and Elizabeth Bjork about their work on memory and in particular the concept of desirable difficulties – things teachers can do that feel difficult but have a positive impact on student learning. Nick has worked alongside the Bjorks for many years, continuing the work on desirable difficulties, and co-authoring one of my all-time favourite research papers: Learning Versus Performance: An Integrative Review
My conversation with Nick can be regarded as a sequel to the 2017 conversation with the Bjorks. We review the key concepts of desirable difficulties but also cover lots of new ground.
Useful time-stamps:
- Memory, learning, and career paths with a cognitive psychologist. (7:04)
- The importance of retrieval practice in learning. (12:25)
- Learning vs performance in education. (17:51)
- Retrieval practice and testing in education. (24:26)
- The benefits of testing students and how it can improve learning. (29:35)
- Effective feedback strategies in teaching. (36:11)
- Math testing formats and feedback. (43:03)
- Retrieval practice in math education. (47:37)
- Using retrieval practice and spacing to improve learning. (51:33)
- Spaced repetition in teaching fractions. (56:30)
- Optimal spacing for effective learning. (1:01:01)
- Optimal retrieval practice for learning. (1:05:36)
- Using hints and cues in retrieval practice. (1:10:03)
- Formative assessments and learning vs performance. (1:13:30)
- Interleaving and its benefits in learning. (1:17:41)
- Interleaving in math education. (1:23:55)
- Math education techniques and interleaving. (1:27:53)
- Interleaving practice in education. (1:31:41)
- Pre-testing in education. (1:36:57)
- Assessing students’ prior knowledge in math lessons. (1:44:24)
- Pre-testing in education and its potential effects on students. (1:47:35)
- Pre-testing and its benefits in education. (1:52:48)
- Retrieval practice and its effectiveness in learning. (1:57:43)
- Learning strategies and debunking myths. (2:02:21)
- Learning styles, desirable difficulties, and technology in education. (2:08:32)
- Learning vs performance in education. (2:14:37)
- Learning strategies and research-backed techniques for teachers. (2:20:22)
About the guest
On Twitter, Nick is @NickSoderstrom
Nick’s blog can be found here
Nick’s paper about Learning versus Performance can be found here
Nick’s paper about pre-testing that we discuss can be found here
Nick’s Big 3
- Book: Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning
- Website: Lasting Learning
- Blog: The Effortful Educator
My usual plugs:
- You can help support the podcast (and get an interactive transcript of this episode) via my Patreon page at patreon.com/mrbartonmaths
- If you are interested in sponsoring an episode of the show, then please visit this page
- You can sign up for my free Tips for Teachers newsletter and my free Eedi newsletter
- My online courses are here: craigbarton.podia.com
- My books are “Tips for Teachers“, “Reflect, Expect, Check, Explain” and “How I wish I’d taught maths”