IEEE Potentials Magazine - May/June 2018 - 37

allows for the encoding and
embedding of new knowledge in
existing networks of prior perceptions, facts, and thoughts.

For efficient learning, use
optimal learning techniques
Rereading text and massed
practice of a skill or new knowledge are by far the preferred
study strategies of learners of
all stripes, but they're also
among the least productive.
-Brown, Roediger, and
McDaniel

A) Testing/retrieval practice
as a learning tool
In virtually all areas of learning, you build better mastery
when you use testing as a tool
to identify and bring up your
areas of weakness.
-Brown, Roediger, and
McDaniel
Despite getting a bad rap, testing-or
retrieval practice, as it is customarily
called in the learning sciences-is a
very powerful, but underestimated,
learning technique. Retrieval practice
or testing methods include inter alia,
quizzes, and exams in formal assessment settings; self-test (e.g., through
flashcards); and oral examination. In
our context, testing simply implies
the action of forcing students to
recall the learned information from
memory. It has been shown that a
single simple quiz can help produce
improved learning compared to techniques that are most popular with
students (rereading text and reviewing notes). The potency of testing or
retrieving information from human
memory arises from the fact that
retrieval is a "memory modifier" rather than simply some inert playback-
in particular, retrieved information,
rather than being left in the same
state, becomes more recallable in the
future. Testing can help students
achieve three crucial aims: 1) by
supporting recall, the retention of
knowledge is enhanced; 2) by
enhancing self-awareness, students
become more aware of their mental
processes and can better understand
what they do and do not know; 3) by

The fluency illusion underlies the widespread
adoption of suboptimal learning techniques
such as rereading and massed practice that
engender fluency but are inefficient compared
to other techniques.
putting students in controlled adversity situation, important noncognitive skills, such as resilience and
grit, can be developed.

interleaving, the effort produces
longer-lasting learning and a more
versatile ability to generalize and
apply the knowledge correctly as per
the context.

B) Spaced learning
and interleaving

C) Aiming for mastery

The truth is, nothing in learning
science comes close [to spaced
learning] in terms of immediate,
significant, and reliable improvements to learning.
-Benedict Carey
A substantial body of research has
demonstrated the power of spaced
learning. Although the brain is not
like a muscle in any straightforward
sense and is much more eccentric, it
is instructive to note that massed
learning can provide temporary fluency, just like a body builder can
pump muscles temporarily by cramming in exercises. However, growth
occurs only with a spaced exercise
routine (in which exercise and rest
follow each other cyclically). Similarly, long-term learning also requires
spaced practice and does not result
from cramming. There are two main
benefits to spaced learning: first, it
requires the exercise of retrieving
from long-term memory; second, the
time between the spaced learning
sessions allows our minds to better
organize and interconnect new and
prior knowledge.
The related technique of interleaving encourages the incorporation of
variety by suggesting that the practice of different knowledge or skills
should be performed together. Such
a practice allows for better recognition of the context of the knowledge
or skill being learned. This allows for
better discrimination and problemsolving skills as the students begin
to get a grip on the techniques to
use in various situations. Although
retrieval will feel more difficult with

To be a sophisticated learner
requires understanding that
creating durable and flexible
access to to-be-learned information is partly a matter of
achieving a meaningful encoding of that information and
partly a matter of exercising the
retrieval process.
-Bjork, Dunlosky, and
Kornell
Transforming into an effective learner is much more than becoming fluent. For optimal learning-i.e., learning with efficiency (learning the most
in a given time), flexibility (the ability
to generalize to new situations), and
longevity (the ability to remember the
knowledge for a long time)-one
must understand a subject, encode
it in storage memory elaborately and
memorably, and then practice it in a
variety of settings. As noted by Bjork
et al., becoming a sophisticated
learner entails a meaningful encoding of learned information (into the
storage memory) as well as the exercising of the retrieval process (through
re trieval memory). This requires
familiarization with activities and
techniques that can enhance storage
and the subsequent retrieval of the
content and procedure to be learned.
In addition, one must become aware
of certain illusions and biases that
can impede learning.
Previous research has demonstrated that one important difference between the knowledge of experts and novices is that the former
have much more dense connections
between the various concepts, facts,

IEEE PotEntIals

May/June 2018

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