Have you noticed your students drift off mid-lesson or try to juggle schoolwork with phones, conversations and other distractions? Boredom and multitasking are common challenges in the classroom and both are strongly linked to lower learning outcomes.
But there is some good news: Retrieval Practice can help keep students engaged while also strengthening their memory, resulting in faster learning, deeper retention and as new research suggests, reduced boredom and multitasking.
What is Retrieval Practice?
Instead of passively re-reading and highlighting notes, Retrieval Practice (sometimes called ‘The Testing Effect’) gets students to actively recall what they know, whether it’s multiple choice questions, using flashcards or low-stakes quizzing.
Whether it’s drifting attention in lessons or students trying to ‘multitask’ with phones and homework, with the rise of online learning environments, these challenges are becoming increasingly common.
Retrieval Practice provides a low-cost, low-effort way to counter this. Challenging students, keeping them cognitively engaged and giving immediate feedback helps sustain attention and reduce the pull of distractions.
What does the research say?
A recent study was the first to explore the relationship between boredom and multitasking with Retrieval Practice. The researchers predicted that Retrieval Practice would be of particular benefit for students who are more prone to boredom or prefer multitasking.
To test this, 381 students were asked to complete questionnaires to assess their proneness to boredom and their preference for multitasking. They then studied 40 Chinese-English word pairs, each displayed for five seconds. Half of the pairs were simply restudied. The other half used retrieval practice.
Benefits for memory, boredom and multitasking
Students who used Retrieval Practice remembered more (66%) than those who simply re-read the material (54%), a well-established finding across many studies now.
The interesting and novel finding in this study was the link between boredom/multitasking and the Testing Effect. Students who were more boredom-prone or more likely to multitask gained a bigger boost from Retrieval Practice. This suggests that Retrieval Practice doesn’t just improve memory generally, but it’s especially effective for the students most at risk of disengagement.
In the restudy condition, boredom and multitasking predicted worse performance. This shows us that students who use techniques such as re-reading and are particularly boredom-prone or prefer to multitask take a real hit to their test performance.
However, using Retrieval Practice may act as a protective buffer, as when students had to actively recall the material during practice, those same traits no longer predicted poor performance.
But why is this? Retrieval Practice demands active engagement. Each time students try to recall information, they have to focus their working memory on the task at hand. This leaves less room for distractions or drifting thoughts, unlike re-reading, which allows the mind to wander. The act of retrieval also strengthens the memory trace itself. With every recall attempt, the memory pathways in the brain are reactivated and consolidated.
So, for your students with a high tendency to multitask or get bored, this might be the strategy that benefits them most, helping them stay engaged and boost their memory.
How to use Retrieval Practice in the classroom
Retrieval Practice isn’t just effective; it is also teachable. One study found that when provided with why and how to use Retrieval Practice, students outperformed those who tried it without instruction. This means that a small investment of classroom time can pay off to help learners become more independent.
Classroom and independent strategies
1. Formative Assessments
End lessons with quick, low-stakes quizzes to help consolidate new knowledge. Remember, one size doesn’t fit all, so quizzes and questions can be written or verbal – the key is that they are mentally retrieving the content.
2. Think, Pair, Share
To boost student participation, you could use Think, Pair, Share. This includes students thinking about a question individually, then comparing answers with peers before sharing with the class. This not only enhances retrieval but also builds communication and deeper thinking skills.
3. Flashcards
Encourage your students to use digital flashcards with spaced repetition outside of the classroom. Short and interactive flashcards reduce cognitive load and keep revision engaging and memorable.
4. Immediate feedback
Give students feedback straight away so they can see their progress. This boosts motivation, reduces the temptation to multitask and helps them understand where and how to improve.
Final thoughts
Boredom and multitasking are challenges every teacher recognises. Retrieval Practice offers a simple, scalable and promising way to keep students engaged, motivated and focused while also strengthening their long-term memory. By encouraging your students not just to review but to recall, you can help them build more resilient learning habits and stay engaged even when distractions or boredom may start to set in.
