retrieval practice Archives

Unintended Consequences

by Laura Maniglia | Feb 26, 2026 | academic standing, active learning, attention & focus, brain development, classroom management, cognitive skills, instruction, learning, memory, PISA, reading, retrieval practice, student engagement, teacher effectiveness, teacher training

Educational technology (EdTech), such as tablets and computers, appears to impair rather than benefit learning. Although EdTech has the capacity to enhance critical thinking skills, it can also negatively affect attention spans and lower retention if misused....

Update: How to Maintain Fluid Intelligence

by Laura Maniglia | Jun 4, 2024 | active learning, attention & focus, brain development, cognitive skills, exercise, intelligence, learning, memory, retrieval practice

More than eighty years ago, psychologist Robert Cattell partitioned intelligence into two parts: fluid and crystallized. Fluid Intelligence refers to a person’s current ability and involves openness to learning new things, while crystallized intelligence refers...

Ready? Set? Learn!

by Laura Maniglia | Sep 6, 2023 | active learning, attention & focus, cognitive skills, exercise, instruction, intelligence, learning, retrieval practice, student engagement, study skills, teachers

School is back in session, so now is the perfect time to review and practice active learning strategies. Simply reading or re-reading material is a passive pursuit and therefore ineffective for learning. The key components of active learning engage the learner,...

How Fluid Are You?

by Laura Maniglia | Jan 23, 2023 | active learning, attention & focus, creativity, instruction, learning, math, retrieval practice, students, teacher effectiveness

While many theories of intelligence exist, one that has recently received renewed interest was first proposed almost eighty years ago. It partitions intelligence into two parts: fluid and crystallized. “Fluid intelligence involves the ability to reason and think...

The Right Stuff (Questions)

by Laura Maniglia | Oct 14, 2022 | active learning, attention & focus, cognitive skills, instruction, learning, NAEP, public schools, reading, retrieval practice, study skills, teacher training, teachers, testing

The disappointing reports from NAEP and more recently, the ACT, point to a frightening learning loss that occurred during the pandemic. The NAEP reading scores are the lowest in thirty years, and the math scores showed a first-ever decrease. The ACT scores have also...

It’s Quiz Time!

by Laura Maniglia | Mar 19, 2022 | academic standing, active learning, attention & focus, classroom management, cognitive skills, instruction, learning, metacognition, retrieval practice, study skills

In order for teachers to evaluate their students’ learning, they usually schedule assessments. However, not all assessments are equally valuable for learning. High stakes testing such as midterms, end-terms, and standardized tests do little to aid either teaching or...

Unintended Consequences

Update: How to Maintain Fluid Intelligence

Ready? Set? Learn!

How Fluid Are You?

The Right Stuff (Questions)

It’s Quiz Time!

If schools were permitted to have just one training, this is the one!