Dr Gareth Bates

Nelson Cowan identies 9 models of WM. What's the problem? If we talk about things in general terms, then we have to expect different interpretation and understanding. We should be very clear when using technical language and position it in the specific model we are using and the limitations.

In my #CogSciSci keynote I explained how memory is problematic in generating general principles. Something I didn't have time for was to discuss how explanations of phenomenon emerge from the specific experiments carried out. A good example of this is the concept of working memory 1/2

I'm my recent #CogSciSci talk, I went a step further and suggested that you start with recognition tasks and gradually change to questions with less cues.

This is a good question. You are essentially referring to something called transfer appropriate processing. So evidence from retrieval practice would suggest that task matching increases performance. However, we cannot predict exam questions so I would favour mixing formats.

Oooo, I like that. Spot on in some cases. It's a good question to ask yourself when planning activities.

Thanks so much. This is an important point - just because you do something and call it retrieval practice doesn't mean you are gaining the benefit. If we overly focus on the activity, then we may lose sight of the purpose.

At #CogSciSci I said we are becoming overly focused by activities in the classroom. I'm my latest paper I make a call for research into how things like retrieval practice interact with other things we do in the classroom 👇 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Thanks so much. Hope you found it useful.

Indeed, especially when the science isn't that clear cut. I really enjoyed making the Star Wars slide, my best work I feel 🤣

A great day at #CogSciSci. Thanks to all the feedback from both my talks and glad it sparked discussion and questions.

‘What’s in a name?’ Retrieval practice in the primary classroom: a case study Retrieval practice has become a well-established teaching strategy in English schools due to the influence of recent government policy changes. This case study used teacher questionnaires, lesson o...

🔥 Many study protocols used in retrieval practice experiments are inappropriate for primary aged children and very few studies have been done in authentic primary classroom. So how do primary schools use this in the classroom? My new paper explores this. #UKEd www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

What's actually happening with retrieval practice in primary schools in the UK?
Some research ↓
#UKEd #EduSky

‘What’s in a name?’ Retrieval practice in the primary classroom: a case study Retrieval practice has become a well-established teaching strategy in English schools due to the influence of recent government policy changes. This case study used teacher questionnaires, lesson o...

🚨 My new paper has been published looking into retrieval practice in the primary classroom. #UKEd www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

SCHEDULE RELEASED #edusky
Cogscisci Surrey is a month away! Here are the amazing talks we have to offer featuring:
@adamboxereducation.bsky.social @drgarethbates.bsky.social @carlhendrick.substack.com @lambhearttea.bsky.social @hugheshaili.bsky.social @mrlockyer.bsky.social @mbdscience.bsky.social

Looking forward to this #UKEd #SciTeachUK.

Is revision learning? If you use learning strategies for revision it may not help attainment 🤔 #UKEd

So where does this leave us? Well, correlation isn't causation but it does demonstrate that just doing strategies is not enough. Doing them well and having positive attitudes and beliefs about revision is arguably more important.

Interestingly, where students had been taught about effective revision strategies, they were more likely to use things like distributed practice. However, their average grades were lower.

Which learning techniques supported by cognitive research do students use at secondary school? Prevalence and associations with students’ beliefs and achievement - Cognitive Research: Principles and I... Research in cognitive science has highlighted the effectiveness of several learning techniques, and a number of studies have analyzed their prevalence among university students and their relationship ...

In a recent paper 👇 although evidence based strategies were associated with achievement, the correlation was low.
cognitiveresearchjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10....

This is important as we want students to perform well on exams. However, much of the revision advice is based on strategies that support long term learning, such as distributed practice and practice testing. A question though is are these even effective for performance?

Soderstrom and Bjork make a clear distinction between learning and performance, where they demonstrate that increases in performance doesn't necessarily lead to learning and lasting learning doesn't necessarily lead to immediate performance.

🔥🔥 Hot take: are we wrong about revision? This time of year we see the focus shift for Y11 towards revision and there is lots out there talking about effective strategies based on cognitive psychology. However, things may not be as they seem..... 🧵 #UKEd

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This paper is regular referenced as the revival of this area of research.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/...

If you are talking about the testing effect and spacing effect, then yes, this is the boundaries of the research.

I never said it wasn't but if we are using these terms then they need to be accurate. I'm just explaining the evidence base.

You are thinking about what is know as the gap or lag, which is the time between initial learning and first retrieval. Spacing then comes with the second and then subsequent exposures.

OK, so this is a misunderstanding about the spacing effect. The spacing effect exists due to rexposure or the same test item. The testing effect can be leveraged with a single exposure so won't include spacing. Also, this is on already learnt material, so already encoded.

This is exactly the aim of the retrieval for learning framework.

I said spacing is a different effect, which is entirely accurate. You can measure a spacing effect experimentally. You can 100% can do RP separately to spacing, lots of experiments do this.

Time to forget Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve? Over the last decade, the conversation around cognitive science and psychology in education has grown ever louder, to the point at which these discourses have come to be seen as one of the dominant…

Again, it depends on definition. There are lots out there. However, I see lots conflate RP with Ebbinghaus, which is not correct. I've written about this too.
peerreviewededucationblog.com/2022/02/11/t...