Week # 33 Review & Retrieve 📝🔄

The Memory Anchor

One of the most dangerous traps we can fall into as learners and as instructors is the illusion of knowledge. When question and answer activities are flowing, there is a feeling of fluency in the room suggestive of deeper knowledge and imparted learning. But, this is an illusion of memory. Because the information is accessible and relevant in the working memory in that moment, it can bias us to assume that the learning “has happened” and we can move on.

Then, when cycling back via an examination question or a problem which presents itself on the pitch, we become frustrated by the lack of effective recall; the clunky terminology; the lack of precise movement pattern.

We have fallen foul to the forgetting curve, and not deliberately designed opportunities for recall, retrieval, and exercise which anchors the learning to the present situation. Regular recall is like a cheat code for forgetting. It strengthens memory and makes it more readily accessible and more effectively applied.

Rosenshine’s principles place review front and centre: daily, weekly, monthly. Why? Because learning is not what is taught by you, it is what’s remembered. Memory needs reinforcement.

Regular review provides retrieval strength. It keeps ideas alive, stable, and accessible. Without it, even well-understood content fades.

Great learning design spirals. It re-encounters knowledge through varied forms:

- low-stakes quizzes,

- discussion starters,

- application tasks,

- reflection prompts,

- video analysis

In sport, this might look like:

1. Weekly tactical recaps to reconnect language and decision-making

2. Scenario training to retrieve under pressure

3. Specific questioning in analysis sessions

In education, we might see:

1. Priming (Week #31 Crafted Concept) activities which review content

2. Regular low-stakes quizzing and tracking of results

Review and retrieval are rhythmical learning. And when it's woven into the weekly regime via careful and deliberate learning design, we get stronger learners.