The Science of Learning

The Science of Learning

If you are a teacher, chances are you studied education in college but didn’t spend much time on the science of learning—namely, cognitive science about how students learn and practical implications for teaching. As education researchers Laura Pomerance, Julie Greenberg, and Kate Walsh (2016) point out, many teacher preparation programs focus on the history of education, laws, rules, and other topics while omitting cognitive science. While education and learning overlap, they are not always the same thing. All too often, teachers adopt and repeat practices in the classroom without questioning them because they are traditional; they are “the way we do school.” To be effective in terms of learning, teachers should seek continuous improvement in their practice by studying and applying the science of learning.

When I first began studying the science of learning, I did not intend to upset beliefs and practices I had developed during my career in education. However, the more I learned, the more I realized some common practices in the profession, including my own, are outdated and counterproductive. I’m talking about practices like dedicating days to individual topics, blocking groups of questions, and reteaching content. While these practices are widely accepted, they do not create effective or efficient learning.

Although decades of research identify techniques that are effective and efficient for learning, findings by neuroscientists and cognitive psychologists have not become standard practice in many classrooms. Beth McMurtrie (2022), senior writer for The Chronicle of Higher Education, notes:

While education and learning overlap, they are not always the same thing.

Scholarship on teaching and learning has grown exponentially over the decades, encompassing thousands of experiments, stacks of books and journal articles, and major initiatives to bring the science of learning into the classroom. . . . And if habits and preconceived notions about teaching remain unchallenged, say teaching experts, there’s little reason to change.

The reasons for this are nuanced and complex. I understand teachers do not have the time to constantly sift through the evolving research on the science of learning or the structural support to implement it. The good news is they don’t have to. I am committed to doing that legwork and sharing my passion for the science of learning in a way that makes it simple to help educators do their jobs and ultimately support students.

Teachers spend a considerable portion of their time reteaching concepts that students have forgotten or did not fully learn the first time. Doing this makes it difficult to cover all the material required for that course or school year. While teachers may never be able to eliminate all reteaching, they can reduce the time they spend reteaching by using the techniques in this book. Stick the Learning serves as a bridge between research findings and the classroom. Focusing on the application of three research-proven techniques—spaced repetition, interleaving, and retrieval—this book guides you

Although decades through implementing these practices in your school or classof research identify room to increase student achievement and save you time. The first technique, spaced repetition, is spacing out the learning of techniques that are a topic over time and revisiting or re-engaging in the material effective and efficient at standard intervals. The second technique, interleaving, refers for learning, findings to alternating topics on an item-by-item basis so that no topic by neuroscientists is repeated in back-to-back questions. Retrieval, the third techand cognitive nique, is intentionally cueing students to recall information. By implementing spaced repetition, interleaving, and retrieval psychologists have (what I call the SIR techniques), you can expect greater learning not become standard outcomes from your students. In addition, research shows that practice in the SIR techniques increase retention, application, and transmany classrooms. fer (Bjork & Bjork, 2020; Butler, Black-Maier, Raley, & Marsh, 2017; Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan, & Willingham, 2013; McDaniel, Thomas, Agarwal, McDermott, & Roediger, 2013; Pan & Rickard, 2018). Therefore, your students will not only remember what they learn for longer amounts of time but also be able to use that information in various contexts. Whether you are a teacher, administrator, instructional coach, or curriculum developer, the findings and applications in this book can make you a more effective and efficient educator. Teachers learn to immediately apply these techniques in the classroom. Administrators and instructional coaches learn to implement these techniques in staff professional development and in collaborating to increase student achievement. Curriculum developers learn to include the techniques in the curriculum mapping process to maximize what students learn and when they learn it. Additionally, this book is not subject or grade-level specific. These neuroscience-derived methods increase students’ long-term retention, application, and transfer across subjects and grades from kindergarten through college (Dunlosky, 2013).