The science of learning

Here’s a really clear, short and applicable summary of the key areas of cognitive science which can be applied to the classroom:

The Science of Learning

The summary looks at six questions about learning, giving a quick summary of the science and some ideas about how they might apply in schools and classrooms. It effectively summarises a great deal of things I’ve written about over the last couple of years in six pages! Here are some links for further reading for some of the key points of the summary:

1. How do students understand new ideas?

• The importance of prior knowledge and the bottle-neck of working memory

2. How do students learn and retain new information?

• Getting students to think about meaning and giving them sufficient practice through things like low-stakes quizzing

3. How do students solve problems?

• Automating the recall of key knowledge to reduce the load on working memory and giving specific feedback related to improvement

4. How does learning transfer to new situations?

• Ensuring background knowledge is sufficient and secure, and focusing students on the deep structure of similar problems

5. What motivates students to learn?

• Beliefs about intelligence, the care with which we must use praise or rewards, improving student judgements of learning, and reassurance about belonging

6. What are some common misconceptions about how students think and learn?

• Students don’t have learning styles, popular neuromyths like left/right brained learners, there aren’t ‘stages’ of development, there are differences between novices and experts, and other misconceptions and pseudoscientific ideas surrounding learning

I’m looking forward  to seeing future work by Deans for Impact – and I’ll be keeping an eye on their blog for more excellent resources!

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