A professional development programme which seeks to develop teachers' use of retrieval practice with the overall aim of supporting Key Stage 2 pupils build interconnected, meaningful science knowledge.

The goal of the project is to move beyond current widespread retrieval practices that focus on limited and separate, unconnected information to support teachers’ use of more complex and interconnected retrieval practice.

About the project

This project is based in the Centre for Research in Scientific and Technological Learning (CRiSTLE) and follows on from our Learning sciences interdisciplinary research. Further details about the research behind the Rich Retrieval programme can be found in this conference poster and in this article for practitioners.

The Rich Retrieval programme promotes the use of six, topic-specific strategies referred to as the '5C's and Q': Compare, Contrast, Categorise, Connect, Create, and Question. It is integrated into weekly science lessons for 5-10 minutes. Teachers are able to draw on a bank of activities with suggestions for rich retrieval practices which have been tailored to the science curriculum.

The professional development programme includes an introductory webinar for school leaders, followed by two in-person professional development days and two twilight webinars for participating teachers.

The project team

Bath Spa is currently working with the Education Endowment Foundation and the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to consider the impact of the programme. The School of Education project is led by Dr Kendra McMahon and supported by Prof Sarah Earle, Kerry-Anne Barber and Lisa Ziegler. For further information, please email primary.science@bathspa.ac.uk.