Dive Brief:

• Students need time to work with materials they’re learning in class, so they can show how well they understand new concepts. This also gives children a better chance of remembering the information later.
• Teacher Blake Harvard uses two strategies in his classroom to help students have a better grasp of their lessons. Retrieval practice has students answer multiple choice questions, or even write an essay to check their recall before a test. The second, spaced practice, teaches students to study for short periods over multiple days rather than use “cramming,” he writes in Edutopia.
• Holding frequent mini-tests, so students see where they need more help, results in children who feel less stress about their exams, and less upset when they get information wrong.

Dive Insight:

Assessments can be stressful for students and teachers alike. Children are trained to believe tests are an all-or-nothing moment, and educators know assessments can be used to measure their own abilities.

A better approach may be giving students more opportunities to test their own learning before an exam — whether that’s letting them work together, as in study groups, or teaching them to run through problems and study material in short bursts over time. Researchers have long-looked at this latter practice, also referred to as “spaced repetition.” They have found this educational tool helps students make new connections in their learning, while also enhancing their “rote memory for the studied material,” according to a 2016 study published in the journal Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

For curriculum designers, giving teachers adequate classroom time to cover material may be crucial. In this way, they can see that educators not only teach the lessons students need to know, but also ensure their pupils understand what they’ve learned as well.