long-term learning<\/strong>.<\/p>\nTo summarize this ENORMOUS review, they found that teaching strategies which benefit short-term peformance do not consistently benefit long-term learning.<\/p>\n
That is: imagine that I introduce a new topic in class, and give my students a quick low-stakes quiz at the end of that class. The strategies that boost class-end quizzes probably won’t help students learn well enough to demonstrate understanding on a later test.<\/p>\n
They understood it today, but not long-term.<\/p>\n
The Even Bigger Question: So What?<\/h2>\n
So far, these research findings have the whiff of humor.<\/p>\n
Ain’t it funny<\/em> that we monotask better when we think we’re multitasking? LOL.<\/p>\nIn truth, this consistent finding —\u00a0humans don’t intuitively understand how we think and learn —\u00a0has important implications.<\/p>\n
Here’s what I mean:<\/p>\n
In theory, the field of Mind, Brain, and Education creates conversations among equals<\/em>: psychology researchers, neuroscience researchers, and teachers\/academic leaders.<\/p>\nIn practice, this field often results in researchers telling teachers what to do<\/em>.<\/p>\nI myself, in my own work, spent LOTS of time championing the voice of teachers.<\/p>\n
We teachers can, should<\/em>, MUST speak up for ourselves. Our experience — both individual and professional —\u00a0matters<\/em> in these conversations. We’re not here to obey; we’re here to share ideas for mutual benefit.<\/p>\nHowever, because “humans don’t intuitively understand how we think and learn,” we must speak up for our experience AND we must do so modestly.<\/p>\n
We must do so with an open mind.<\/p>\n
Yes, my experience tells me that\u00a0teaching this way<\/em> helps students learn.<\/p>\nBut, my definition of “learn” is “do well on the class-end quiz.” Soderstrom shows us — very convincingly — that class-end quizzes don’t predict long-term learning and understanding. (Of course: “long-term learning and understanding” is my goal!)<\/p>\n
Yes, my experience tells me that I can multitask! Alas, research shows I’m just monotasking efficiently.<\/p>\n
My gut tells me that simple rereading results in more learning than retrieval practice. Alas, my gut is\u00a0just plain old wrong<\/em>.<\/p>\nIn other words: we teachers should have a role in this Mind, Brain, Education conversation. To be most effective in that role — to merit that role — we must acknowledge the limitations<\/em> of our insight, training and professional experience.<\/p>\nThis balance is VERY DIFFICULT to get right. I hope we can talk more about finding a harmonious tension between speaking up and listening with humility and curiosity.<\/p>\n
\nKornell, N., & Son, L. K. (2009). Learners\u2019 choices and beliefs about self-testing.\u00a0Memory<\/i>,\u00a017<\/i>(5), 493-501.<\/p>\n
Soderstrom, N. C., & Bjork, R. A. (2015). Learning versus performance: An integrative review.\u00a0Perspectives on Psychological Science<\/i>,\u00a010<\/i>(2), 176-199.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Every now and then, research is just plain funny. Here’s the story: If you’ve spent even a hot minute at a Learning and the Brain conference, you know that multitasking is not a thing. When we undertake two cognitively demanding tasks “simultaneously,” we actually switch rapidly back and forth between them. The result: we do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":6799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[34],"class_list":["post-6795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lb-blog","tag-multitasking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6795"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6801,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6795\/revisions\/6801"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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