The Science of Learning and Cognitive Science are inextricably linked. The Science of learning is a focus on the cognitive view of learning in order to identify those principles that are most applicable to teaching.

In 2015, Deans for Impact published The Science of Learning. This document identifies six key questions about learning, the cognitive principles around them and the practical implications for teachers:

  1. How do students understand new ideas?
  2. How do students learn and retain new information?
  3. How do students solve new problems?
  4. How does learning transfer to new situations in or outside of the classroom?
  5. What motivates students to learn?
  6. What are the common misconceptions about how students think and learn?

The Learning Scientists are cognitive psychological scientists interested in research on education. Their vision is to make scientific research on learning more accessible to students, teachers, and other educators. You can access all of the materials below.

Rosenshine’s Principals of Instruction

Barak Rosenshine presents 10 research-based principles of instruction. These principles come from three sources of research on:

  • Cognitive science

    • How our brains acquire and use information

  • Classroom practice of master teachers

    • Teachers whose classrooms have made the highest gains on achievement tests

    • Cognitive supports to help students learn complex tasks Effective instructional procedures e.g. scaffolds and models

The 10 instructional principles are:

  1. Begin a lesson which a short review of previous learning
  2. Present new material in small steps with students practice after each step
  3. Ask a large number of questions and check the responses of all students
  4. Provide models
  5. Guide student practice
  6. Check for student understanding
  7. Obtain a high success rate
  8. Provide scaffolds for difficult tasks
  9. Require and monitor independent practice
  10. Engage students in weekly and monthly review (B. Rosenshine, 2012)

Retrieval Practice

Psychologists such as Robert and Elizabeth Bjork and Yana Weinstein believe our capacity to remember things in the long-term is strengthened by practising the process of retrieving information from our long-term memory into our working memory.

The more we practise remembering, the easier it is to do and the longer we can recall the information for. The less we do it, the more we forget. The effect of retrieval practice is stronger than re-reading or being told the same information repeatedly.

There are many forms of retrieval practice, depending on the material in hand. It can simply be mental rehearsal of factual knowledge, mental elaboration (where you explore connections between ideas) or practical drills and rehearsals that make the retrieval process more automatic

Interleaving

Interleaving involves implementing a schedule of practice that mixes different kinds of problems, or a schedule of study that mixes different kinds of material, within a single study session. It can also involve mixing, or interleaving, multiple subjects of topics, as opposed to blocked practice, which typically involves studying one topic very thoroughly before moving to another topic

Spaced Learning

Spaced learning is applying the principle that information is more easily learnt when it is repeated multiple times, with time passing between the repetitions.

Dual Coding

The principle of dual coding, as first put forth by Allan Paivio in 1971, states that our brains can process information from two channels at the same time. We can take in things that we hear and read on one channel (the written word is processed like sound by our brain), and things that we see on another.

One definition is: “The process of combining verbal materials with visual materials. There are many ways to visually represent material, such as with infographics, timelines, cartoon strips, diagrams, and graphic organizers. When you have the same information in two formats – words and visuals – it gives you two ways of remembering the information later on. Combining these visuals with words is an effective way to study.” www.learningscientists.org.

oncrete and Abstract Thinking

One decision teachers face is when to present new knowledge in concrete terms e.g. hands on experience, when to present it in abstract terms, and when to combine these approaches.

Research shows that presenting knowledge in both concrete and abstract terms is far more powerful than doing either one in isolation (Pashler et al., 2007). This is particularly true in math and science classrooms.

For example, a 2003 study showed the benefits of initially presenting concepts in a concrete fashion and then, over time, augmenting that initial presentation with progressively more abstract representations of the concepts—a method known as concreteness fading (Goldstone & Sakamoto, 2003).

To transfer knowledge learned from a concrete example to an abstraction, students need appropriate guidance. For example, in a 2002 study by Ainsworth, Bibby, and Wood, two groups of elementary students who learned about the mathematical process of estimation using pictures showed better understanding of estimation than did students who had never been exposed to the graphic representations. The researchers concluded that the introduction of concrete visual aids helped the students learn deeply about estimation.