A new study on retrieval practice highlights a critique I’ve been making of education research for years: as I headlined one my post posts in 2013, The “Best Learning Techniques” Are Useless If Students Won’t Do Them — A Critical Take On A Well Done Study.

This new study, Differential use and effectiveness of practice testing: Who benefits and who engages? (not behind a paywall) finds, as the above text box says, that students who could most benefit from it are least likely to do it.

As most teachers know, the most motivated students are going to lots of things to improve their learning and academic performance.  In lots of ways, they are “teacher proof.”

They’re going to be fine.

I wish more academics would spend less time on low-hanging fruit and put more of their efforts on the truly big challenges facing teachers in the classroom – how to better create the conditions where intrinsic motivation can thrive.