Are we presenting the Facts but Not the Skills?
I think we all have.
Weve known for generations that people of all ages benefit from frequent practice the more the better.
Who hasnt heard the old adage, Practice makes perfect.
We cant neglect them they are the mortar that holds it all together.
Do we optimize the way we teach?
Havent we been down this road before?
Perhaps its time to consider a different approach.
Instead of focusing on teaching methods, we could examine the learning process from the students perspective.
And, wow, what a great time to explore this perspective.
Weve learned so much about the brain recently.
Weve learned the very things that we need to make this all work.
We just need to put it all together.
Our brains contain billions of neurons, which are long skinny cells that act as little data-transfer highways.
The area between neurons where the information is exchanged is called the synapse.
When we learn something new, our brain creates new pathways between neurons.
In fact,Dr.
Active recall is the act of, well, actively recalling information youve just learned.
Every time you remember a new memory you strengthen and solidify that particular pathway in your brain.
I discovered this exercise only recently and it has done wonders for my retention.
This places them front-of-mind for when sleep takes over and performs its free nightly strengthening process.
The bookLearning How to Learn2is a fantastic resource and covers this in detail.
The same holds true for the not-so-rewarding art of reverse cramming.
Say, for instance, a student finds out that they have a test in a week.
Another tip I learned from the book was that procrastination really is painful!
The more often you put something off the more pain you cause yourself.
This seems pretty obvious, but there is a delightful flip-side to this.
By all means, just get it over with already!
Im glad you asked!
The more we look at this the more we learn that this couldnt be farther from the truth.
The perfect example of this is handwriting.
Brain activity was studied in 36 university students as they hand-wrote visually presented information vs. typing with a keyboard.
Suffice it to say the results were overwhelmingly in favor of the use of handwriting over typing.
From spaced retrieval to the mind/body connection, workbooks still hold their own as a great learning resource.
Thats great, but lets not get too far off-topic.
I feel like there is a divide between what Im teaching and what the children are learning.
Is this the Holy Grail of education?
