Opinion Blog

Ask a Psychologist

Helping Students Thrive Now

Angela Duckworth and other behavioral-science experts offer advice to teachers based on scientific research. Read more from this blog.

Teaching Opinion

Students Often Reread to Study. But That’s Not Effective

By Robert A. Bjork — March 23, 2022 2 min read
Why do students study by rereading their notes?
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

This is the last piece in a four-part series on learning. You can read the first one on the need to embrace desirable difficulties here, the second on a better way to practice here, and the third on the problem with cramming here.

Why do students study by rereading their notes and textbooks?

Rereading is accompanied by a sense of perceptual fluency, which students can then mistake for comprehension. Here’s something I wrote recently about the topic for Character Lab as a Tip of the Week:

Years ago, after watching a flight attendant demonstrate how to put on an inflatable life vest, I thought to myself, “Oh, man, how many times have I seen this demonstration—50 times? A hundred?”

Something made me wonder, though, “Do I really know how to do this?”

I closed my eyes and imagined the plane was down in the water, that some people were screaming and I could smell smoke. It seemed surprisingly real, and I started to feel panicky. Where was the vest? Under the seat, but was it just hanging there or in some kind of bag I had to open?

I imagined finding and unfolding the vest, then getting panicky again when I was unsure which side was the front. After getting the vest over my head and pulling on some straps to tighten it, I imagined inflating the vest. Only when I reached an exit row did I remember I was not supposed to inflate the vest until after getting through the exit window—and I imagined other panicky passengers trying to push me and my inflated vest through the window.

Research shows that watching someone else perform a skill isn’t the same as doing it yourself, just like rereading information doesn’t prepare you to actually recall information when it’s time to take a test.

The act of what scientists call retrieval practice—forcing yourself to recall previously learned material—is far more effective. When you test yourself and get things wrong, you’re not making a mistake. You are identifying what needs to be studied—or perhaps studied again.

That’s why, when giving a talk at the air traffic control center in Oklahoma City, I suggested that airports should have a room where passengers could practice putting on a life vest or oxygen mask. Doing the activity even once is worth more than dozens of passive observations of flight attendants’ demonstrations. After completing the exercise, you could get a little lapel pin saying, “Follow me! I know how to get out of the plane.”

Don’t think you can do something just because you’ve seen someone else do it. Watching a cooking show doesn’t make you a chef.

Do help young people recognize the benefits of retrieval practice. Students can create summaries as review sheets or get together with friends to quiz each other. As the old adage goes: “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”

Related Tags:

The opinions expressed in Ask a Psychologist: Helping Students Thrive Now are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

Events

Teaching Profession K-12 Essentials Forum New Insights Into the Teaching Profession
Join this free virtual event to get exclusive insights from Education Week's State of Teaching project.
Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Teaching Opinion Correlation? Causation? Effect Sizes? What Should a Teacher Trust?
Understanding research implications for the classroom is key to determining student outcomes.
5 min read
Conceptual illustration of classroom conversations and fragmented education elements coming together to form a cohesive picture of a book of classroom knowledge.
Sonia Pulido for Education Week
Teaching Opinion Advice for Beginning—and Veteran—Teachers
Larry Ferlazzo offers advice for new teachers gleaned from his many years of experience in the classroom.
3 min read
Conceptual illustration of classroom conversations and fragmented education elements coming together to form a cohesive picture of a book of classroom knowledge.
Sonia Pulido for Education Week
Teaching Opinion Students Can Easily Fall for Dangerous Messaging. What Teachers Can Do
Bad feelings and alienation can plague young people. You can address those emotions in the classroom.
4 min read
Conceptual illustration of classroom conversations and fragmented education elements coming together to form a cohesive picture of a book of classroom knowledge.
Sonia Pulido for Education Week
Teaching Opinion Improve Your Teaching With These Easy-to-Prep Strategies
Educators share easy steps that teachers can take to bring about big differences in their instruction.
10 min read
Conceptual illustration of classroom conversations and fragmented education elements coming together to form a cohesive picture of a book of classroom knowledge.
Sonia Pulido for Education Week