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Test PrepExam prepMiddle schoolKey Stage 3

How to use retrieval practice

Retrieval practice means asking students to pull what they learned out of memory instead of rereading it. This guide gives three steps a teacher takes, with a free flashcard activity where students type each answer before the card flips and Sparky asks about the cards they guessed.

Jemel Fanfan

Jemel Fanfan | Founding Member at Flint

Title card reading 'How to use retrieval practice', next to three chat cards from a cells review: a student types that the cell membrane is the hard outside layer and marks it guessed, Sparky asks what he remembers about the ribosome, and he says the DNA is the playbook and the ribosome runs the play.

"Flint helps students revisit past concepts they may have forgotten, try out new coding challenges, and receive instant feedback. By integrating AI, coding education becomes more interactive, efficient, and accessible."

Hasan EsenHasan Esen, High School Computer Science Teacher at TeacherX

Why this matters

A student rereads last week's notes the night before a quiz, recognizes every term on the page, and feels ready. On the quiz, cell membrane and ribosome don't come back, or come back attached to the wrong job. Rereading never checked what the student could recall, and the teacher has to wait for the quiz to find out.

What retrieval practice looks like in the classroom

Retrieval practice is bringing what you learned back to mind from memory, instead of rereading or reviewing it. Cognitive scientist Pooja Agarwal describes it as pulling information "out" of students' heads rather than cramming it in (RetrievalPractice.org). In a 2006 study, students who took recall tests on prose passages remembered more two days and a week later than students who restudied them, even though restudying made students more confident (Roediger and Karpicke, Psychological Science).

  1. Ask students what they remember before you review. Agarwal suggests opening class with "what did we do in class last week?" instead of a recap (RetrievalPractice.org).
  2. Have students write or say the answer before they check it. Agarwal's flashcard tips say to write the answer down or say it out loud before flipping the card (RetrievalPractice.org).
  3. Come back to what students missed or guessed. The same flashcard tips say to keep a card in the deck until the student has recalled it correctly three times.

In the Flint activity, each student answers 10 flashcards from last week's cells unit, typing each answer before the card flips, and marks every card "I knew it" or "I guessed". Unlike a worksheet, Sparky then asks the student to explain one guessed card in their own words and answers a wrong explanation with a hint, not the answer.

Sparky gets Malik to recall what a ribosome does

Malik ends up explaining what a ribosome does and how it depends on the nucleus. Every student gets the same flashcard deck, which Sparky built from the unit's terms when the activity was made, and Sparky's replies depend on the cards each student guessed and what they write.

Sparky works from the cards Malik guessedA wrong explanation gets a hint, not the answerA right answer gets a harder question that connects two cards
M

Malik

Interest: Basketball statsStarting point: Rereads his notes and feels ready, but can't recall the terms

Sparky

Go ahead and work through the flashcard deck above. Answer every card from memory before flipping, no notes allowed! When you're done, come back and tell me which cards you marked "I guessed."
Card 6 of 10 in the flashcard deck Sparky built, titled Cell Membrane. Under Your answer, Malik's typed answer reads: the hard outside layer that keeps the cell in its shape. Under Correct answer: Controls what enters and exits the cell; a flexible barrier that surrounds the cell and regulates transport. Two buttons sit below: I knew it and I guessed.
InteractiveCells Review Flashcards

Malik

done. i got 70%. i guessed on ribosome, cell membrane and cell wall. kinda weird bc i reread my notes last night and felt like i knew all of it
The end screen of the flashcard deck: You knew 7/10, 70%. Cards to review: Ribosome, Cell Membrane, Cell Wall. A line tells the student to head back to the chat and tell Sparky which cards they guessed, above a Shuffle and Restart button.
InteractiveMalik's flashcard results

Sparky

That's a really common thing. Reading feels like knowing, but retrieval is a different skill. Ribosome: what do you remember about it, in your own words?

Malik

its where the cell keeps the protein, like storage for it

Sparky

Close, but not quite. Think about what the cell does with protein, not just where it keeps it. What's the ribosome's job in making that happen?

Malik

oh wait storing is the vacuole, i had that one right. so the ribosome makes the protein? like it builds them

Understanding check

That's right, ribosomes build proteins! How does the ribosome relate to the nucleus? Think about what the nucleus holds and what the ribosome needs to do its job.

Malik

the nucleus has the dna so maybe the dna is like the playbook and the ribosome runs the play? it tells the ribosome which protein to build

Recalled what a ribosome does, then linked it to the nucleus

At the end, Malik picked cell membrane as the card to recall again tomorrow, because he mixes it up with the cell wall. Malik is an example student, and Sparky's replies are shortened.

What Flint did for Malik

  • Sparky built a flashcard deck that won't flip until the student types an answer, so Malik's answer on the cell membrane card, which described the cell wall, showed up next to the right one.
  • When Malik said he guessed on three cards, Sparky asked him to explain the ribosome from memory and met his "storage" answer with a hint.
  • After Malik worked out that ribosomes build proteins, Sparky asked how the ribosome depends on the nucleus.

A teacher can't do this by hand for 30 students, and Sparky does it in every student's chat.

The activity page shows which terms the class only guessed

While the class works, Needs attention shows the teacher which student is stuck and on which message. After three or more students submit, activity analytics lists what the class recalled well, where students went wrong, and a follow-up to practice next.

Flint's activity page for the cells flashcard review. Needs attention shows that one student marked 6 of 10 cards I guessed and wrote 'i reread my notes so idk why i blanked'. Activity analytics says most students explained the nucleus and mitochondria from memory, and 15 students connected the ribosome to the DNA in the nucleus. 9 students described the cell membrane as the hard outer layer, which is the cell wall. The follow-up suggests a two-minute brain dump on the cell membrane and the cell wall. The Sessions table lists three students: two submitted and one still in progress.

Example activity page

After a science class reviews last week's cells unit from memory

The school and students are made up for this page.

Set up the activity for free

Open the cells flashcard review in Flint's public library, select Use activity to copy it into a free Flint account, and assign it to a class. The flashcard deck is attached to Sparky's first message, so every student starts with it and there is no setting to turn on. To review a different unit, describe your unit's terms to Sparky in the activity builder and ask for a new deck.

To spread those recall rounds over the weeks before a test, see how to use spaced repetition. For more test prep activities, see Flint for test prep.

Start the activity for free

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