“Teaching is facilitated or hampered by different strategies in learning” Hasche
“Teaching is facilitated or hampered by different strategies in learning” Hascher (2010). What students do, the strategies that they use, make a difference in how much learning takes place. However, students “often have a faulty mental model of how they learn and remember, making them prone to both misassessing and mismanaging their own learning” (Bjork, Dunlosky & Kornell, 2013). Students need help in improving their abilities to learn – and what teachers do, the strategies they use, makes a difference. “Learning is enhanced or impeded by different instructional strategies” Hascher (2010). Project Illuminated highlights a few selected evidence-based teaching practices in its materials and workshops. These strategies are inexpensive to use (time, resources, effort), align with the science of learning (e.g. our understanding of how learning happens), and contribute to developing student metacognitive skills (Pashler et al., 2007). Namely, these strategies both help students learn and can help correct ineffective study habits such as cramming, rereading, and inadequacy of practice. The primary strategies of focus in Illuminated are retrieval learning which involves having learners try to reconstruct what they’ve learned from their memories, distributed practice which involves spacing the reviews of learning over time, and spaced learning which involves repetition and active breaks during a learning session.
Why is it important that we choose evidence-based practices? Because teaching strategies make a difference!
The learning design decisions educators make impact student learning. Below are some examples taken from SOL empirical studies – studies that go beyond behavioural, observational, and learning assessment data and align their findings with our understanding of how the brain operates (i.e. consistent with our current understanding of the structural and functional properties of the brain). Note that the examples of retrieval learning, distributed practice and spaced learning are further elaborated on in the subsections that follow. Retrieval learning led to a 49% increase in test scores across students by changing the type of practice activities students performed (e.g. by having students practice “taking information out” rather than “putting information in”) (Karpicke & Blunt, 2011). Distributed practice led to a 35% increase in student test scores. There was no increase in time spent learning, distributed practice just changed the schedule of when material was presented (Bloom & Shuell, 1981). Spaced learning was shown to lead to a 14% increase in students’ final test scores – this was achieved by changing how the content within a single lesson was presented (Kelley & Whatson, 2013). Additional strategies have been integrated into the design of the Illuminated workshops including pause procedures which involve explaining what you’ve learned to a partner (Richards et al., 2017); self-explanations which involve explaining what you’ve learned