The science of learning can be implemented in the classroom, school or district, says Margaret (Meg) Lee, director of organizational development for Frederick County Public Schools in Maryland.
Lee, who also serves as an advisor for evidence-based practice at the Academic University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam, has led efforts to incorporate the science of learning in Frederick County Public Schools for the past decade. Since the science of learning approach was instituted, the 48,000-student district has seen Increased test scores and reduced achievement gap..
The science of learning is the practice of applying cutting-edge lessons from cognitive science, educational psychology, and neuroscience to the classroom with research-backed practices shown to increase student learning.
This may seem complicated, but it's not as difficult to incorporate as you might think, Lee says, and can ultimately save teachers time.
Here are Lee's top tips for educators looking to pursue the science of learning.
1. Learn how people learn: the difference between working memory and long-term memory
The first step to incorporating the science of learning is to better understand how students (and all people) gain new knowledge, Lee says. This means recognizing the difference between working memory, which is impermanent, and long-term memory, and then engaging in classroom activities that help students transfer new information from the former to the latter.
2. Recovery Practice
One The research-supported way to move memories from working memory to long-term memory is through retrieval practice., a strategy in which students return to recently learned material in multiple ways and at multiple times throughout class. This requires students to retrieve the new memory multiple times, forcing them to remember and think about it with effort.
“Forgetting and remembering is actually part of learning,” says Lee. “Students must have time to remember information and must actively remember information.”
3. Have students translate their learning
Part of retrieval practice is having students “translate” what they learned by interacting with it in different ways.
“If you've read about it, I want you to write about it,” Lee says. “If they have written about it, I want them to represent it. If you've thought about it, I want you to talk about it. That translation from one way to another is really important for learning.”
4. Real-time evaluations
A key part of the science of learning is making sure that students leave each lesson or class with a correct understanding of what they just learned.
“You don't want kids to practice, consolidate, and fall asleep on information that's not correct,” Lee says. She recommends some type of formative assessment that gives the teacher the opportunity to correct any errors in real time.
An example of how to do this is to give students mini whiteboards, ask them questions, and have them write down their answers so the teacher can immediately see who is understanding the concept and who needs more work.
5. Understand that emotions affect cognition
It is important for educators to understand that emotions are linked to cognition. The less welcome and unsettled a student feels, the less likely he or she will learn effectively.
“If they don't feel safe and don't have a sense of personal agency in the classroom, this can really affect how students learn,” Lee says, adding that this is why the science of learning is so important to support student equity.
6. Avoid time-consuming tasks that do not help students
Time is valuable to teachers, so Lee doesn't like to see them spend it on tasks that don't affect student learning. For example, elaborate slide presentations may not help students learn, and may even hinder learning by causing cognitive overload, he says.
Another mistake is creating lessons that suit different learning styles. Although the idea of learning styles has been discreditedLee says the myth won't die and some teachers still spend time developing multiple versions of a lesson to appeal to different learning styles.
7. Honor the teacher's knowledge
Lee points out that many teachers already incorporate these strategies, having realized their effectiveness through experience. She says those seeking to foster greater adherence to the science of learning in their districts should honor this knowledge.
“Many of the strategies that we ask them to use more frequently are things that they are already familiar with and that maybe just need a tweak, or maybe they just need to be improved and done more frequently,” he says.
For educational leaders, focusing on this pre-existing knowledge can help gain buy-in around the science of learning.
“When you approach people with a deep respect for the work they already do and the knowledge they already have, and say, 'Hey, this may be an opportunity for you to make your teaching more effective for kids and more reasonable for you. and your work-life balance,' I don't know if people say 'No' to that,” he says.
