1. Aiding retention through a short review of prior learning Rosenshine Principle 1

2. Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction
Rosenshine suggests that excellent teaching contains ten characteristics.
Characteristic number 1: Begin a lesson with a short review of previous learning. Daily review can strengthen previous learning and can lead to fluent recall.
Research findings
Daily review is an important component of instruction. Review can help us strengthen the connections among the material we have learned. The review of previous learning can help us recall words, concepts and procedures effectively and automatically when we need this material to solve problems or to understand new material. The development of expertise requires thousands of hours of practice, and daily review is one component of this practice.
In the classroom
The most effective teachers in the studies of classroom instruction understood the importance of practice, and they began their lessons with a five-to eight-minute review of previously covered material. Some teachers reviews vocabulary, formulae, events, or previously learned concepts. These teachers provided additional practice on facts and skills that were needed for recall to become automatic.
Rosenshine, B. (2012) ‘Principles of Instruction’ (Rosenshine) Available at:

3. Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve (1885)
The forgetting curve highlights how information is lost over time when there is no attempt to retain it.
J. Medina (2009) argues that ‘people usually forget 90% of what they learn in a class within 30 days…and that the majority of this forgetting occurs within the first few hours after class.’
Medina, J. (2009) Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School. Seattle, Washington: Pear Press, p.130

4. Spaced Practice
The idea of spaced practice was derived after Ebbinghaus conducted his own research into retention. ‘He examined his own ability to learn and retain nonsense syllables such as TPR, RYI and NIQ over time. …
He first read a list of nonsense syllables, then tried to recite it perfectly. Of course, he couldn’t get it right every time. To determine how long it took him to learn the list, Ebbinghaus counted the number of attempts it took for him to get a perfect recitation. He then tested himself again after various delays, and counted how many more attempts it took him to relearn the information after each break, and how that differed depending on his practice schedule.’
After a number of years testing himself on different study schedules, Ebbinghaus concluded the following: ‘With any considerable number of repetitions a suitable distribution of them over a space of time is decidedly more advantageous than the massing of them at a single time.’ (1885/1964)
Weinstein. Y and Sumeracki. M (2019) ‘Understanding How We Learn.’ Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, p.88

5. Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve
De Bruyckere (2018) argues that content that has been learnt, forgotten and then learnt again will become more established in the memory.
Therefore, in his blog, Memory Platforms (), Andrew Tharby argues that a good use of recap questions is to test not only what has been learnt in a previous lesson but also what has been learnt the previous week and the previous term to better aid retention.
De Bruyckere, P. (2018) The Ingredients for Great Teaching. London, England: SAGE Publications
Tharby. A. (2014) Memory Platforms. Available at:

6. How can we recap prior learning?

7. 1. Straightforward recap questions / Zip test
A short test with a maximum of 10 questions. Questions begin with ‘What’, ‘Who’, ‘Which’ or ‘Where’ to support basic information retrieval. For example: Which two energy types are generally wasted? Efficiency must be between which two numbers? Which colour t-shirt should you wear on a hot summer’s day? The answers are then shared and pupils green pen their responses by ticking the ones they got right; correcting the ones they got wrong; filling in the ones they did not complete and adding further details that come up through discussion.

8. 2. Memory Platforms @atharby
Developing the idea of recap questions, the first 10 minutes of a lesson are dedicated to a memory task – a task in which each individual, on their own, is compelled to retrieve stuff from their memory without recourse to any cues of materials. The quizzes appear something like this: Q1-Q3 – retrieve key knowledge from last lesson Q4 – retrieve key knowledge from last week Q5 – retrieve key knowledge from last term Q6 – retrieve key knowledge from last lesson and connect it to knowledge from last term

9. 3.
Similar to recap questions and memory platforms but five questions only and the questions test different skills of the syllabus: recall, comprehension and analysis so that students are recapping all necessary skills as well as core knowledge.

10. 4. Retrieval grid @87history
Adaptation of memory platforms. Each student is given a 3x4 grid. Each grid has a question on it that students are meant to answer. Some questions are from last lesson, some from last week, some from the last topic and some from last year. The students get more marks the longer ago the they learnt the topic. Read more here: 1/12/retrieval-practice-challenge- grids-for-the-classroom/

11. 5. Fragment sentences from The Writing Revolution
A great one for recall but also for developing core literacy. Provide students with a fragment sentence (an incomplete sentence) and ask them to re-draft creating a complete sentence. You may provide students with the subject OR the verb OR a dependent clause. For example:

12. 6. Graphics and pictures @markenser @mrcarterhistory
Providing students with an image or a historical source, for example, and asking them to link to or develop drawing on prior knowledge.

13. 7. Contrasting statements @paulryan16277404
Give pupils two statements based on the previous lesson or previous topic. Ask pupils to identify the differences between the two: what evidence could be deployed for each perspective and the value of each argument?

14. 8. Jeopardy @melwardnz @rainman_d81
Use the game ‘Jeopardy’ to add a competitive element to recall. Organise pupils into teams and have a series of questions worth different values to answer. The team with the most points at the end wins.

15. 9. Explode a quotation @SusanSEnglish @Amyforrestor
Giving pupils a quotation from a previous lesson and asking them to ‘explode’ by identifying meaning and key techniques as well as links to theme and context. This is then fed back onto the board.

16. 10.
Retention questions using a multiple choice format with key distractors to really test student recall. For example:

17. 11. Fast questions @LynetteHarte
Use a song to increase pace and speed of pupil responses to questions. Identify 5 quiz style questions to address core learning of last lesson. Place the over-arching title on the board and for the duration of the song, pupils add their answers, thoughts, ideas to the board to review their learning. Introduces an element of fun and collaboration.

18. 12. Quotation recall
Useful for English especially, give pupils 10 quotations and the start of these quotations only. Pupils then have to fill in the second half of the quotation. This would also work for key facts from other subject areas. For example:

19. 13. Mini-planning grids @LauraLolder
To get pupils used to potential exam questions, providing pupils with a question and a mini-planning grid to create a plan for their response. Again, this is an English example but would work well for other subject areas.

20. 14. Thought shower additions
At the start of a topic, ask pupils to thought shower everything they know about the topic you will be studying. Each lesson ask them to revisit this thought-shower, adding to their initial knowledge. Use a different coloured pen to show the progress they have made.

21. 15. Plickers
Plickers is an online tool which supports MCQ quizzing. Using the website and the app, MCQs can be created. Each pupil is assigned a card and then when a question is asked, students hold the card in a particular way to support their answer and the teacher can scan student responses with a camera which logs the answers and provides immediate feedback

22. 16. Correct the false information
I saw this idea and saved it (author please let me know so I can credit you). Provide pupils with a series of statements. Ask them to correct the false information provided. Really tests understanding and knowledge

23. 17. Cops and robbers @87history
A simple chart. The ‘Cops’ column is for students to write as much as they can from memory about a specific topic. Give them a time limit. Then they complete the ‘Robbers’ section. This is where everyone gets out of their seats to see what their peers have written. They then share and swap their ideas and content adding this information to the ‘Robbers’ column.

24. 18. Making links @Susanstrachan
A simple chart. The names of two poems are given and pupils have to identify the links between them. An English example but could work in other subjects just as easily.