How effective is retrieval practice as an intervention in Key Stage 4 Geography?

JULIAN CARRERA, HEAD OF GEOGRAPHY, THE JOHN LYON SCHOOL, UK What is so special about retrieval practice? If ‘Memory is the residue of thought’ (Willingham, 2009, cited in Sherrington, 2021), then retrieval practice must be at the heart of teaching and learning. Coe (2019) commented that ‘Retrieval practice is strongly supported by over 100 years of research and is one of only two learning techniques rated by Dunlosky et al (2013) as having “high utility” for classroom practice.’ More recently, the work of Bjork et al. (2006, cited in Roediger and Butler, 2011) and Jones (2019) has done much to thrust retrieval practice to the forefront of cognitive science’s many gifts to the classroom.  My own retrieval ‘practice‘ has evolved from scattershot and ill-focused to a much tighter research-informed interpretation. Confidence in my own practice encouraged me to develop an intervention for a small group of students on pure retrieval as my Chartered Teacher Classroom P