Strategies for Implementing Desirable Difficulty

OVERVIEW

Once again, The research is clear that the following approaches work well to a) increase desirable difficulty, and b) create longer lasting retention of learning:

  1. Retrieval practice
  2. Spaced practice or review sessions
  3. Interleaving study
  4. Varying conditions of practice
  5. Providing intermittent rather than continuous feedback

 

STRATEGY 1: Retrieval Practice

 

Specific Strategies for Applying Retrieval Practice

  • Multiple Repetitions and Rehearsals of New Information
  • Find Meaningful Patterns to Organize Frameworks for Learning
  • Give Students Time to Process Information
  • Reactivate Fading Memories When Introducing a New Topic
  • Make Learning Relevant
  • Use Stories, Analogies, and Metaphors
  • Ask Students to Free Write
  • Use Pretests
  • Encourage Students to Use Pretests
  • Guide Entrance Quizzes at the Beginning of Class
  • Give Mid-Class Quizzes
  • Give Exit Quizzes
  • Have the Learner Use Flashcards to Self-Test
  • After Introducing a New Concept, Ask Students to Transfer to a New Situation
  • Space Learning Sessions
  • Have Students Generate List of Big Ideas
  • Combine Text with Images
  • Peer-to-Peer Explanations

 

 

STRATEGY 2 and 3: Spaced Practice and Interleaving

Specific Strategies for Applying Spaced and Interleaved Practice

  • Strategically Plan Spacing in the Syllabus
  • Review Something Old and Something New
  • Make Exams and Quizzes Cumulative 
  • Reboot Class Every 20 Minutes
  • Weave In Ideas from Previous Discussions
  • Generate Phrases to Prime the Pump
  • Regularly Ask Recall and Synthesis Questions in Class
  • Take Time to Demonstrate How to Interleave Several Topics When Studying
  • Encourage Distributed Practice Through Distributed Testing 
  • Use Student-Centered Learning Tools

 

STRATEGY 4: Varying Practice Conditions

As the book doesn't cover this approach, this section is less developed. But, there are other resources available that cover this concept. Essentially, the research concludes that learning that takes place in the same context (location, people, situation, structure, etc.) can become contextualized, only available for retrieval in that same context (see The Research School's page on "Bjork's Desirable Difficulties Links to an external site."). In his book Brain Rules, Dr. John Medina discusses learning in a particular context. Research students that tested people in the same environments where they originally learned information increased recall, even when those environments were not typical learning environments. Divers in scuba gear had better recall when they learned and were tested in gear, rather than when they were out of the water. And, people under the influence of laughing gas or marijuana had better recall when they were again under the influence (Brain Rules, pp. 136-137, or see his site Links to an external site.). Learning is contextual.

We want students to be able to access their knowledge in many different situations, so it is important that variation is happening during learning. There are some practical challenges to applying this principle to our practices - we can't change rooms in the middle of the quarter,  we can't assume that students have multiple places to study and work on course material - but we can work to change the learning situation through approaches like interleaving (see the previous section), and the format that we use to assess students and trigger recall.

Mix things up to add a level of desirable difficulty. 

 

STRATEGY 5: Intermittent Feedback 

 

Specific Strategies for Applying Intermittent Feedback 

  • Let Students Discover Their Own Mistakes 
  • Generate Knowledge 
  • Allow for Confusion
  • Case Studies or Case-Based Learning
  • Send a Problem
  • Team-Based Learning 
  • Wait for the Answer
  • Make Sure Grading Policies Are in Line with Course Goals
  • Phone a Friend
  • What is One Thing That is Wrong? 
  • Fail Nine Times
  • Share a Personal Story
  • Compare and Contrast in Small Groups
  • Make Connections
  • Assess Prior Knowledge
  • Skip or Delay the Online Program
  • Make Sure the Students Still Get Feedback
  • Delayed Doesn’t Mean Never

Again, you are welcome to check out the book for more details on any of these many approaches.