Learning Science
Cognitive scientists highlight six learning strategies that are supported by findings in multiple research studies. Results from early studies have withstood the test of time over the past 10 years and yet continue to see sluggish adoption in favor of earlier approaches to teaching and learning.
These evidence-based strategies offer a helpful guide to educators and students during the design of the learning process. The informed learning designer can turn to integrating these strategies with their work to design learning experiences.
The table linked below by Weinstein, et al: 2018 is a handy guide containing definitions and applications for each of the six strategies.
My Take
Spacing
Have you ever been tasked with something that you perceived would be very difficult. So difficult in fact that perhaps you fretted over it, delayed doing it, and wondered how on earth you were ever going to accomplish it - until push came to shove you gave it your all and pushed through to complete the task, only to realize later - when asked to do the task again, only to be required to level up once again - and then you think that wasn’t all that difficult after all. Boy that was easy, I’ll do that one again in my sleep. Yup - I think that is what spacing is all about.
Retrieval
My grandma used to always say “Practice Makes Perfect”. I can remember her saying that as clear as day even when I was a little girl learning to play the piano, ride a bike, play a sport, etc. At the time, it feels mundane and not all that rewarding - but through practice and ‘doing’ what you know until you know all that you need to know is what gets you the rest of the way there. There is only one way to get to the end, and that is to retry or practice the parts you know until the rest fall into place. Bingo - Retrieval!
Interleaving
Is the idea of tackling multiple different ideas or concepts rather than focusing on repetitive practice on a single concept. Studies are cited showing success in math, problem solving and beyond (Weinstein 2018)
Elaboration
Think 'Elaborative Interrogation' with the practice of students asking questions of what and why? How and why? And then try to answer them with information they can find? Research shows this learning strategy is useful for students learning in pairs or independently. Students need scaffolding and feedback to stay on track. (Smith, Weinstein)
Concrete Examples
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Dual Coding
It's more than ok to include pictures!! The fact that there is scientific evidence we can point to that supports the use of images intermingled with text as good teaching and learning practice is very liberating. In adult learning, there is a tendency to keep presentation formal and straightforward. This often manifests in 'no pictures allowed'. Now we say yes to pictures!
"learners benefit from multiple representations of the same idea" is a similarly supported concept in Universal Design for Learning.