What approach is best to help students retain learned information?

Teaching a peer as a technique for retention is highly effective for several reasons. First, this method encourages the student to process the information deeply in order to explain concepts to someone else, which reinforces their understanding. When students teach, they must organize their thoughts, clarify their understanding, and answer questions, all of which solidify the information in their memory.

Additionally, the act of teaching involves using different modalities such as speaking, listening, and sometimes even writing, which can facilitate better retention compared to passive learning methods. Engaging with the material in an interactive way promotes active learning, which is known to enhance memory retention.

In contrast, other methods like simply reading textbook chapters aloud or listening to lectures passively do not actively engage the learner in the same way. These approaches often lead to superficial understanding rather than deep learning. Active strategies, like teaching others, have been shown to improve retention through the processes of retrieval practice and elaboration, aligning closely with cognitive psychology principles.