As a teacher, you can help your students make their studying more effective by understanding how the brain learns.
If the information stored in the brain is never used, it’s pretty much as if the brain never learned or acquired the information in the first place. If you taught the key battles of the Civil War back in January, and then never referenced that information following the initial conversations, it’s as if you didn’t teach it.
Because the information was never called upon again - there was no point at which the brain had to retrieve and manipulate that information. Research studies, like this on from Purdue University, on active retrieval say that, “Retrieval is the key process for understanding learning and for promoting learning.”
What does this mean for your teaching practice?
Think of retrieval like giving someone directions to a location. You’ll start by giving the address and then, potentially, landmarks to watch out for. The landmarks act as signals or cues to let them know, they’re getting close. The more cues you give them, the easier it is to find their destination.
Similarly, when you’re teaching something, put it in context. Offer cues to help your learner put it in place. Mr. Mettler, featured in the film, used flash cards and cartoons to help his students remember key facts about historical events.
Bri Parker, who started her year by saying, “School is not for me” found this technique really helped her understand the information, “I’d read the stuff and picture the really goofy cartoon I’d worked on in class to help explain what was going on and it would all come back to me.”
The arts (visual, performance) are an easy way to give your students more context to what they’re learning. Arts add an element of fun, it usually engages the student because it’s something different, and makes the information easier to retrieve.