Teach It to Learn It
Imagine if the only way you were allowed to learn something was to first hear it in a lecture and then study it on your own. Sounds restrictive, doesn’t it? Obviously, lectures prove perfect for certain educational endeavors, but then again, so do lab work, flipped classrooms, independent research, and a host of other multimodal approaches. And yet, no matter how a student is initially taught something, he’s expected to master that information alone, usually by sitting at a desk for hours reviewing notes. Here’s a revelation: maybe self-study isn’t the best path to content mastery for every student… maybe even not for you! One surprisingly effective strategy to learning is devilishly simple: teach it. The infamous Learning Pyramid, based loosely on the work of educator Edgar Dale, touts teaching as the most effective route to knowledge retention. More recent research helps provide the evidence this idea has needed. For…
Self-Control and Score Outcomes
Overcoming adversity and competition to achieve great success always depends, at least in part, on willpower. No less a luminary than the Dalai Lama joined the chorus in praise of this trait when he said, “We all have the power of thought – so what are you lacking? If you have willpower, then you can change anything.” I’ve shared some thoughts on how willpower leads to higher scores as well. Willpower can be defined as the ability to resist urges, impulses, and short-term gratification in pursuit of long-term goals or objectives. We’re always fighting urges to eat what we shouldn’t, pay attention to something other than what is in front of us, or walk away from what we’re doing and just go back to bed. As a limited resource, willpower only lasts so long, especially under sustained stress. Test prep, obviously, demands lots of willpower. For greater success in our…
Exercise in Repeatedly Recalling a Thing
“Exercise in repeatedly recalling a thing strengthens the memory.” Do you despise testing? Perhaps you’d feel more open to the tremendous value of testing if you knew that one of humanity’s great philosophers and scientists fully endorsed the practice. Aristole saw the connection between repeatedly recalling a thing (testing) and remembering a thing (learning). The testing effect, as it is called, powers academic performance in a way that mere reading never can. All those students who adopt reading and rereading texts as their primary study strategy miss out on the educational impact of active recall of targeted information. Psychologists Henry L. Roediger III and Jeffrey D. Karpicke contributed much to our understanding of the testing effect in their review of a century of research into learning. They also conducted their own insightful research into the subject. Considering that the title of their findings was Test-Enhanced Learning: Taking Memory Tests…
Testing and Meta-skills
After over 25 years of trying to explain what complex standardized instruments like the SAT or ACT are meant to test, I still find the general explanation of “math, verbal, and test taking skills” woefully inadequate. Just as frustrating is the disconnect between the way these skills are tests in school as opposed to the exams themselves. Why is SAT math, for example, so different from school math, even though the discrete subject matter overlaps entirely? A recent comment from deep thinker Shane Parrish of Farnam Street helped me wrap my head around why the conventional view of what is tested fails to describe how multifarious and sophisticated those skills are: We tend to think of meta skills as the skill. For example, we default to thinking that reading is a skill. But there is really no skill called reading. Reading is the meta-skill that results when you alloy other…
What I’ve Learned About Online Learning From the Revised Online AP Exams
Recently, I taught some classes on the changes to the spring 2020 Advanced Placement (AP) exams. Aside from learning about the specific changes for those tests, I had the opportunity to review good online teaching and testing. In general, the issues for students are similar to those they always face: what needs to be done to learn effectively and test well? Similarly, instructors still need to be able to have clear objectives, provide an effective teaching environment, and build confidence. The challenge for instructors is working in a novel teaching environment. What issues are impacted by learning online? First, more and more students will look for information online. While this is nothing new, I believe a lack of guidance can lead students to unreliable sources. As instructors, we need to teach students good practices, such as determining what makes a good source. For example, the dependence on Google searches has…
Five Steps to Better Online Learning
Now that we’ve all experienced months of enforced remote instruction, we’ve learned how challenging online learning can be for those who never acquired the right skills: How to manage online learning platforms and tools What responsibilities online learners have in the process How to engage with both instructors and other students How to manage your physical workspace and schedule How to take effective notes for both retention and review Let a professional educator who teaches both college and medical students online show you how to become a better online learner in ways that will lead to enhanced academic, professional, and personal success. Don’t wait until the next crisis to master these essential skills. The best time to become a better online learner is NOW! This seminar is part of our June Seminar Series. The fee is $25 for this program or $99 for as many of the June…