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  • 9 steps · 2 quizzes

The Science of Learning — What Makes Lessons Stick

A 45-minute, hands-on session for teachers, trainers and workshop facilitators on what learning research says makes lessons stick…

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28 lessons · used by 2 teachers

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9 steps · 2 quizzes · about 70 minutes · open any step

  1. Memory in three movesStart hereEvery lesson asks memory to do three things: encode (take it in), store (keep it) and retrieve (bring it back out). Teaching usually focuses on the first. Learning depends on the third. Try it: press Learn it, then Recall it a few times.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  2. The forgetting curveIn 1885 Hermann Ebbinghaus memorised lists of nonsense syllables and tested himself at intervals. His forgetting curve: much of new material is lost within a day or two, then the loss slows down. Try it: add reviews on days 1, 3, 7 and 14.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  3. Retrieval practice: testing is learningPulling information out of memory — a quiz, a quick write, a flashcard — strengthens it more than looking at it again. Researchers call this retrieval practice or the testing effect. Try it: run the two-minute experiment on yourself, then look at the research.InteractiveHands-on · 11 min
  4. Spacing: the same time, spread outSpacing study sessions out (distributed practice) beats massing them together (cramming) for long-term memory — even with exactly the same total study time. Try it: compare the three plans, then move the sliders to build your own.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  5. Check: retrieval and spacingQuiz · 4 questions
  6. Interleaving: mix it upIn blocked practice, students do a run of problems of one kind, then a run of the next. In interleaved practice, the kinds are mixed. Mixing feels harder and practice scores drop — but later test scores can rise sharply.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  7. Working memory is smallNew information passes through working memory, which holds only a few things at once. Overload it and learning stalls — this is cognitive load. Try it: find your digit span, then try the chunking test.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  8. Words and pictures togetherPeople generally learn more from words plus a relevant picture than from words alone — two connected routes into memory, often called dual coding or the multimedia principle. A picture that is only decoration can distract.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  9. Myth or evidence?Some popular ideas about learning don't hold up. Decide for each card, then flip it.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  10. Plan a lesson that sticksPut it all together in one 45-minute lesson. Try it: build a plan that has all five ingredients — or press Show an example plan.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min

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Workshopy shares this lesson under CC BY 4.0. Anyone may use and change it, with credit to you. Anyone can learn it here, free. A copy in your workspace is yours to change and run live; your students never need an account.

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