Category: Neuroscience
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Novel experiences: do they help students learn?
Why is it that when we provide students with novel experiences in lessons (designed to make ideas memorable) that students often only remember irrelevant bits of the experience rather than the idea we were trying to teach? Here are some examples: Teacher’s intention: wanting maths students to understand vectors through using a snakes and ladders…
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Reconstructing memory
Memory is often unconsciously understood to be like a library where memories, like books, are thought to be inserted and stored in some shelf-like areas of the brain. If we want to add to what we know, we just slot more information onto the shelves… If we want to access memories, we simply take a…
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Curiosity: the wick in the candle of learning?
I would have loved it if my students were hungry little “infovores” [1] desperate to find out what would happen next in the novel, poem or play I was teaching. There’s a word for this drive for information: curiosity. And it’s been described as “the wick in the candle of learning”.[2] But does curiosity improve…
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Understanding forgetting
Students are returning to school after a long summer break. What will they remember from last year? What happens if they’ve forgotten a lot of it? In this blog, let’s focus on forgetting: what it is and what to do about it.* But first, we need to reset our understanding of forgetting. Forgetting is a…
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Building on what they know
What are the best conditions for helping pupils build on what they know? In this blog we look at updating memory through a process of reconsolidation and what this might mean for teaching pupils. Updating memory If our memories are going to serve us well (i.e. make accurate predictions), they need stay relevant. This means…
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Schemas determine what we learn
I’m teaching the class about a poem we’ve read. I tell them the poet is writing about love. But instead of writing ‘love’, the poet uses a different word… a euphemism for love. The poet has repeated the same line with the euphemism in it across every verse. “Why have they done this year 10?…
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How retrieval practice works part 2
In part 1 we saw how retrieval improves both the storage and retrieval strength (Bjork & Bjork, 1992) of memories using two mechanisms: (1) Reactivation: retrieval reactivates memories speeding-up memory storage. (2) Coactivation: retrieval coactivates related memories, changing their connectivity and clearing a path to the target. Here’s two more potential mechanisms driving the benefit…
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How retrieval practice works part 1
You’re right to be interested in retrieval practice. Retrieval practice is the use of low-stakes testing (written/verbal questions) to benefit pupils’ long-term memories (McDaniel at al., 2007). It’s more effective than non-testing methods like re-reading. Used in conjunction with other effective teaching methods, retrieval practice has the potential to be a powerful tool for teachers.…
Evidence for Educators 