Best Practices in use of Flashcards

​Best Practices in the Use of Flashcards

​What does the research tell us?

​What is fluent performance?

When skills are fluent:

• Students perform quickly and with a high rate of accuracy.

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Skills that are built to fluency demonstrate:

• Retention - students remember the information even after time passes

• Endurance - students perform the skill for long periods without tiring

• Stability - ​students can perform it even in a distracting environment

• Application - students use the skills in new contexts​

Multiple Choice

John, Peter, and Sam are presented with the same assignment.

Which student is more fluent?

• John answers 9/10 questions correctly in 2 minutes.

• Peter answers 3/3 questions correctly in 2 minutes.

• Sam answers 4/10 questions correctly in 2 minutes.

Open Ended

One benefit of building skills to fluency is...

​How do we build fluency?

• Fluency is developed by repeated practice of the same skill. ​

• While fluent performance is fun and effortless, the building of fluency takes effort and can be tedious.

• Rather than practicing for long stretches of time, fluency is best built in short bursts of a few minutes each, repeated daily.

• Flashcards are an effective way to build in daily practice opportunities during academic strategies.​

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Multiple Choice

Which one is most true about fluency building?

• Both the acquisition and performance of fluent skills is effortless.

• The acquisition of fluent skills is difficult, but the resulting performance is effortless.

• Both the acquisition and performance of fluent skills is difficult.

Multiple Select

To improve the probability that students will practice skills to fluency...

• Schedule one 45-minute practice session each week.

• Do a 5-minute practice session every day.

• Wait until right before the test to practice skills to capture motivation.

​What can the research tell us about effective flashcards?

​Practice in Both Directions

Polson, Grabavac, and Parsons, 1997

• ​College students were taught French-English word pairs

• Half of words were trained in one direction (French-English), while the others were trained in the opposite direction (English-French)

• Rate and accuracy dropped significantly for 8/9 students when the opposite relation was tested (average 29% correct).

• Our take-away: Students need to practice seeing the word and identifying the definition, and seeing the definition and identifying the word.

Multiple Choice

If we only practice saying the word when we see the definition,

and then the test presents the definition and asks for the word,

we would predict...

• Students will automatically reverse their learning and perform well on the opposite skill.

• Students will perform poorly on the test since this training is not reversible.

​TAs make the flashcards

Cihon, Sturz, and Eshleman, 2012

• ​College students were either provided with flashcards for a weekly vocab test, or asked to create their own.

• Student​s preferred the instructor-made cards.

• Students performed slightly better with the instructor-made cards.

• Our take-away: Making flashcards is a poor use of student's limited instructional time. Provide them with the flash-cards pre-made so they can focus on learning the material.

Multiple Choice

To develop the flashcard deck...

• TAs should make the cards so students can prioritize practicing with them.

• Students should make the cards so they have ownership over their learning.

​Practice on the Computer

McDade, Austin, and Olander, 1985

• ​College students were either provided with paper flashcards for a weekly vocab test, or access to an online flashcard website.

• Student​s preferred the online flashcard practice.

• Students practiced more often and for longer periods with the online cards than the physical flashcards.

• Students demonstrated more anxiety with paper flashcards. ​

• Students were only slightly faster with paper cards an online practice.​

• Our take-away: Online flashcards offer numerous advantages in terms of availability, preference, and engagement, with minimal effects on fluency compared to paper-based cards.

Multiple Choice

To practice with their flashcards...

• Students must practice with paper cards if their final test will be pen-and-paper.

• Students prefer online flashcards, and the drawbacks are minimal.

​Do not Customize Cards

Meindl et al. 2013​

• ​College students were provided with cards with very specific formatting guidelines.

• When tested on slightly altered cards, performance dropped significantly.

• The fastest students had the sharpest decline in scores. ​

• Our take-aways: Student responding may come to be controlled by the presence of certain cues (ink color, size of words, special designs) rather than the content itself. Avoid customizing the cards, and practice in multiple formats to prevent an irrelevant cue from controlling responding.

Multiple Choice

When given a new deck of cards...

• Students should add pictures and flair to make the cards their own.

• Students should not modify the cards so that uniformity is maintained.

Multiple Choice

To practice their skills...

• Students should use all of the available practice options to see words in new contexts and formats.

• Students should pick one practice method and use it exclusively.

​Key Recommendations

• TA should develop flashcards on an online flashcard maker.

• Flashcards ​should have a uniform font and formatting.

• Student should practice daily for 5-10 minutes.

• Student should practice both term-to-definition and definition-to-term.

• Student​ should use all available tools to practice vocabulary in different contexts.

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Open Ended

One adjustment I will make to my flashcard practice with students is...