Why quizzes beat rereading: retrieval practice for kids at home
Short answer: asking a child to recall what they learned, with a quick quiz, flashcards or "tell me what you remember", builds longer-lasting memory than rereading or reviewing notes. One classic study found people who were tested remembered about 61% of a passage a week later, against 40% for people who reread it four times.
What is retrieval practice?
Retrieval practice means pulling information out of memory instead of putting it in again. A low-stakes quiz, a flashcard or a blank page that says "write everything you know about volcanoes" are all retrieval. Rereading, highlighting and watching the video again are not.
The effect is one of the most replicated findings in learning science. In 2013, a team led by John Dunlosky rated ten popular study techniques for the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest. Only two earned "high utility": practice testing and distributed practice (spacing). Highlighting and rereading were rated low (Dunlosky et al., 2013).
How big is the difference?
In Roediger and Karpicke's 2006 study, students read short prose passages. Some reread the passage several times. Others read it once and then practised recalling it. Five minutes later, the rereaders did slightly better. A week later the result had flipped.
| Practice during the session | Recalled 5 minutes later | Recalled 1 week later |
|---|---|---|
| Read it four times | Highest | About 40% |
| Read it once, recalled it three times | Lower | About 61% |
The rereaders also felt more confident. That is the trap. Rereading feels fluent, so it feels like learning. Recalling feels harder, and that effort is what makes the memory last.
A follow-up in Science found retrieval practice beat concept mapping too, even on questions that asked students to draw inferences (Karpicke & Blunt, 2011).
Does this work for young children, not just college students?
Yes. Classroom studies from elementary school through university show the same pattern. A 2017 review of 272 effect sizes found practice testing beat restudying across ages, materials and test formats (Adesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017). Studies with children usually use simpler formats, such as picture flashcards, oral questions and matching. The format can change; the act of recalling is what matters.
Two cautions for younger kids:
- Give feedback quickly. If a child recalls something wrong and is never corrected, the error can stick. Always show the right answer after an attempt.
- Keep it low stakes. Retrieval works as practice, not as judgment. No grades and no comparing with siblings.
A ten-minute routine for elementary kids
- Brain dump (2 minutes). "Tell me three things you remember from today's lesson." Write down what they say.
- Five quick questions (4 minutes). Mix today's topic with one or two from last week. Older material is where the real gains are.
- Check and fix (2 minutes). Go through the answers together. Have them say the correct version out loud.
- Teach it back (2 minutes). "Pretend I'm your little brother. Explain it to me." Explaining is retrieval plus organizing.
Do this three or four times a week and you will cover most of what the research recommends.
Where do tests and flashcards fit?
A test at the end of a topic is retrieval practice with a scoreboard. Flashcards are retrieval in small pieces. The best results come from using both, spread out over time. We explain how far apart to space them in how far apart flashcard practice should be.
DadSchool puts every topic in this order: a short lesson, flashcards, then a test the child takes without help.
References
- Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4–58.
- Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255.
- Karpicke, J. D., & Blunt, J. R. (2011). Retrieval practice produces more learning than elaborative studying with concept mapping. Science, 331(6018), 772–775.
- Adesope, O. O., Trevisan, D. A., & Sundararajan, N. (2017). Rethinking the use of tests: A meta-analysis of practice testing. Review of Educational Research, 87(3), 659–701.