Retrieval practice

Antje and David Leigh-Lancaster, Leigh-Lancaster Consulting 

Introduction 

Retention, retrieval, recall and fluency are terms we hear often in education, especially when we’re discussing how students access and use prior learning. But what do these terms actually mean, and how do they relate to effective classroom practice?

This article will: 

  • clarify the terms retention, retrieval, recall and fluency 
  • address common misunderstandings 
  • outline key features of effective retrieval practice, with practical examples. 

How do recall, retrieval and retention connect? 

Retention, retrieval, and recall each describe a different part of how learning is accessed and strengthened over time. The diagram below provides a simple outline of their relationship. 

 

A simple line drawing of a person’s head in profile
A simple line drawing of a person’s head in profile. Inside the head, the word ‘Retention’ is written in large text, with an arrow labelled ‘Retrieval’ curving from the brain toward the mouth. Outside the mouth, the word ‘Recall’ appears, showing retrieval leading to recall.

Image: Relationship between retention, retrieval and recall

Retention, retrieval and recall are related but distinct aspects of how students access and strengthen learning over time. 

  • Retention is the persistence of learning over time.
  • Retrieval is the process of accessing knowledge from long-term memory.
  • Recall is the result of retrieval of previously learned knowledge (facts, concepts or procedures) so it can be used to understand, choose an approach or solve a problem. 

Retrieval practice strengthens retention by requiring students to access learning from long-term memory. When learning is retained, students are more likely to recall it when needed and apply it fluently across familiar and unfamiliar mathematical tasks. 

In the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics, fluency is described as follows: 

Mathematics provides opportunities for students to develop, practise and consolidate skills; choose appropriate procedures; carry out procedures flexibly, accurately, efficiently and appropriately; and apply knowledge and understanding of concepts readily. Students are fluent when they connect their conceptual understanding to learned strategies and procedures; choose and use computational strategies efficiently; when they recognise robust ways of answering questions; when they choose appropriate representations and approximations; when they understand and regularly apply definitions, facts and theorems; and when they can manipulate mathematical objects, expressions, relations and equations to find solutions to problems.

ACARA 2022

Some common misunderstandings

Retention, retrieval and recall can be interpreted narrowly at times, limiting the breadth, depth and impact of retrieval practice. The table below outlines some common misunderstandings of each term or concept.

Term Common misunderstandings
Retention
  • Assuming that once students have learned something, they will remember it permanently, rather than recognising that forgetting is normal if learning is not revisited 
  • Confusing short-term success (e.g. getting it right today) with long-term retention, and not checking learning again after a delay 
Retrieval
  • Assuming that retrieval practice only works for simple facts, when it also supports conceptual understanding, procedural fluency and connections between ideas 
  • Thinking that re-teaching, re-studying or re-reading engages retrieval, when these are forms of re-exposure, where learning is presented again rather than recalled from memory 
Recall
  • Treating recall as just rote learning, rather than a necessary part of reasoning and problem solving 
  • Assuming students ‘don’t know it’ if they can’t remember a fact straight away, instead of recognising that recall improves with time, cues and practice
Fluency
  • Thinking fluency is mainly about speed, rather than accuracy, efficiency and flexibility 
  • Treating fluency as the ability to memorise answers instead of being able to choose and use appropriate strategies in different situations 

Retrieval practice

Retrieval practice is the intentional use of activities that require students to mentally ‘search’ for previously learned information and bring it into active thinking. This effort strengthens memory over time, making learning more likely to be retained and easier to apply in both familiar and unfamiliar contexts.

Effective retrieval practice should:

    • create productive challenge (desirable difficulty) – so it’s effortful enough to require thinking, while still being achievable
    • go beyond facts – including prompts that build from the recall of key information to questions that explore relationships, methods and reasoning (the ‘how’ and ‘why’)
    • vary the prompts and contexts –with different question types and representations so students retrieve and apply learning in multiple ways, not just in one repeated format
    • be brief and routine – occurring regularly as a short part of lessons so that prior learning is revisited, without taking up too much teaching time
    • ensure high participation – using whole-class response modes (such as mini-whiteboards and quizzes) to ensure all students are actively thinking and responding, not just a few
    • use low-stakes tasks and feedback – reducing anxiety and keeping the focus on learning rather than performance; using timely feedback to help identify errors or misconceptions early, so these are not reinforced through repeated practice
    • require an independent attempt first – giving students time to retrieve from memory before answers are provided, rather than re-exposing the learning through re-reading or explanation.

Examples of retrieval practice questions

Look at the following three questions and consider how their structure encourages effortful thinking and recall.

Question 1

Three tasks involving number lines

Questions 1. Three tasks involving number lines. 1. A number line from 0 to 1 divided into four equal parts; students are asked to locate one quarter. 2.A similar number line from 0 to 1 with four equal intervals; students are asked to locate three quarters. 3. A number line labelled 0, A, B, C, D, and one and one quarter; students are asked which label represents three quarters

Question 2

A coordinate plane with x- and y-axes marked from minus 8 to 8

Question 2. A coordinate plane with x- and y-axes marked from minus 8 to 8. A straight, downward‑sloping line runs from the upper left through the point (0,4), continues through (6,0), and extends into the lower right quadrant. Instructions ask students to write as many observations as possible from the diagram.

Question 3

A list of options asking students to circle all expressions equivalent to three quarters

Question 3. A list of options asking students to circle all expressions equivalent to three quarters. Options shown: a) three eighths b) six eighths c) two thirds d) fifteen twentieths e) eighty sixtieths f) three hundred and sixty our of four hundred and eighty g) zero point seven five h) seven point five i) seventy five percent j) zero point three four.

Question 1 is an effective retrieval task because it progressively removes scaffolds, requiring students to shift from simple recognition to active recall. Including progressively more challenging questions helps reveal students’ depth of understanding by showing what they can recall and apply as prompts are reduced.

Question 2 is open ended, encouraging students to retrieve and apply prior learning from different areas of mathematics (such as gradient, intercepts, linear graphs, Pythagoras, triangles – perimeter, area). This strengthens connections across different topics and consolidates knowledge, while supporting students to sort, organise and show what they know.

Question 3 combines numbers from three different areas (fractions, decimals and percentages), requiring students to retrieve and apply knowledge across representations. This supports students to strengthen connections across topics and consolidate learning. As students don’t know how many correct alternatives there are, an additional benefit is that all possibilities need to be considered.

These examples highlight how retrieval practice can be designed to strengthen recall, reveal understanding, and build flexible connections across mathematical ideas. Each question structure can be readily adapted to different topics, levels and student needs.

Effective retrieval practice does not rely on one-off activities, but on consistent routines that are designed, reviewed and improved over time. When teachers use student responses to adjust questions, revisit key learning and refine lesson sequences, retrieval practice becomes a practical tool for strengthening long-term retention and supporting fluent application of learned strategies and procedures in mathematics. 

References and related resources 

Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO). (2023, September). How students learn best. 

Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO). (2025, March). Revisit and review. 

Barton, C. nd. Same Surface, Different Deep Structure maths problems SSDD Problems. 

Burge, B., Lenkeit, J., & Sizmur, J. (2015). PISA in practice: Cognitive activation in maths – How to use it in the classroom. National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). 

Department of Education. (2025, December). VTLM 2.0 – Revisit and review. Victoria State Government. 

Kuepper-Tetzel, C. (2022, June 2). Reflective class feedback: Enriching in-class quizzes with discussion. The Learning Scientists. 

Leigh-Lancaster, A., & Leigh-Lancaster, D. Effective learning and review strategies for students. Mathematics Hub. 

Rohrer, D., Dedrick, R. F., & Agarwal, P. K. (2017). Interleaved mathematics practice. University of South Florida.