Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

Many types of human activity that contribute to cognition and improving capacity in any is learning. It isn't all about declarative memory.

Imagine educational outcomes in which the individual values what they have learned and are prepared to use it to address relevant problems in their own lives.

Where the Rationale for School IT Breaks Down https://hackscience.net/2023/11/28/where-the-rationale-for-school-it-breaks-down/

A Civil Rights Firestorm Erupts Around a Looming Surveillance Power Grab - WIRED https://apple.news/AEpdAPVw2QhKowzZ2n304zA

Variable practice finds learner practicing retrieval in different settings and situations.

Interleaved practice finds learners studying spacing their retrieval practice session and engaged in spaced retrieval practice of other topics or subjects between successive sessions.

Spaced practice finds the learner engaged in retrieval practice over an extended period of time. Those educators who encourage students to begin studying for tests for weeks before it is given understand the importance of spaced practice.

Retrieval practice finds the learner actively recalling what they have learned. Student who test themselves on the material they are supposed to learn can recall more of the content than those who do not practice retrieving.

Humans are social creatures; individuals gain evolutionary advantage by participating in social groups. Our brains have adapted to learn from social situations.

The emotional and social aspects of human learning appear to be deeply embedded in our nature.

While learning is commonly understood as a cognitive process, humans also develop the ability to use our bodies in useful and important ways as well.

We learn how to form sentences and the rules of grammar (for example append “ed” to verb to make it past tense) long before we are taught the rule in school.

Conditioning is the form of highly repetitive behavior it is known to exert powerful influences on the formation of habits in humans and responses to environmental circumstances. For the learning we do in schools, not so much.

Because project-based learning often falls outside of the traditional academic boundaries and because instructors typically exert little control over what is learned and how it is demonstrated,

Teaching often results in “’inert ideas’—that is to say, ideas that are merely received into the mind without being utilized, or tested, or thrown into fresh combinations.” Alfred North Whitehead was right.

One thing I learned during decades in the classroom: Worked examples are effective.

Go into a room filled with students using computers. If you hear only mouse clicks, something is wrong.

1) How do students compare to students in similar courses?
2) What are student’s emerging learning skills?
3) Can students create polished projects?

These seem different (and all valuable) ways to understand student learning.

Grades can be perceived as rewards or punishments; high marks reward those who learned well and punish those who did not. There is evidence this reasoning does not explain what we observe in classroom.

Even the most motivated students value others’ assessment of their work and the degree to which they are able to be critical, creative, and practical with their knowledge.