Science of Learning Course Week 3

In week 3 of the Science of Learning course with Future Learn we started looking at how we Build memories, the second stage of the Engage, Build, Consolidate model. I was looking forward to this week, as the process of how we create new learning intrigues me

The first video brings to light two very important parts of the process of building new knowledge

The first is that all learning is built upon prior learning, and that it is the links between topics that really mean learning new content. This is linked to learning being a two way process of communication, from teacher to pupil and also from pupil to teacher, and that feedback is vital in this process. This is especially true for children, as their frontal cortex is still developing, and so they need help to explicitly make the links to other knowledge. This is also linked to the idea of using starter activities which prime the students for the new knowledge, by recalling related information which we want them to make connections to

The second aspect of building knowledge that is immediately important is the fact that this requires "effort, attention and a conscious processing of information". This activates the working memory network in the frontal regions of the brain, and this is where new knowledge is built

The ideas of building on prior knowledge are further explored in the next article, where some different activities (class discussion, concept cartoons, KWL grids, Plickers) are suggested as good tools for formative assessment. The whole purpose is for the teacher to identify what the students already know in order to create meaningful connections between these thing and the new learning

We then learn more about the immature prefrontal regions of the brains in children, even up to the late teenage years. This means that we as teachers need to "encourage and help students make connections with their prior knowledge" as they may not be able to do this themselves without guidance

We then move on to the limitations of working memory, and the idea that we can only hold seven chunks (plus or minus 2) in our working memory at any one time. The idea of chunks (or schema) is discussed and the example is given of when learning to read, kids need to hold each individual letter in working memory, but as they gain experience they can hold whole words and phrases, making reading easier

​Try to remember this sequence of letters

​MCB IRB RDN AFO UFV NAA

How many can you remember without looking?

Now try to remember this sequence of letter

BBC RAF MRI UFO DNA VA

How many can you remember this time?

This is given as an example of chunking information

We see brain images that show that after extensive practice the frontal areas of the brain have reduced activity when solving problems, and there is more activity in the unconscious central areas. This suggests that after practice we do not use our working memory as much, freeing it up to focus on other things

Now we start to talk about Cognitive Load Theory, and in particular, we start with the idea of visual and auditory distractions overloading our working memory. One example given is the idea of reading and listening to text at the same time, and that these both use the auditory channel, hence causing overload

However, this is then contrasted with the ideas of multisensory learning, and the fact that making use of different senses in the learning process is important for making connections and hence stronger memories. My understanding of this is that we should make use of different sensory activities for learning, but not at the same time, as this could lead to cognitive overload

This is extended to the idea of "active" learning, and how we can use physical movement to link learning. BUT, this is not learning styles. The difference is exemplified in that multisensory learning means all students should see all the different sensory approaches (not just their preferred style), and that this experience should be separated by time and linked together, rather than all done at the same time

Reflections on Week 3
Lots of the theory from this week was stuff I had already encountered, but the links to the actual activity in the brain, and the applications were very interesting. There was so much of importance in the steps this week that all teachers should be aware of

First the implications of new knowledge being built on prior knowledge. Is this the reason why knowledge is so important, as Daniel Willingham (https://www.aft.org/periodical/american-educator/spring-2006/how-knowledge-helps) argues. But most importantly, the direct implications of this are that we as teachers need to know what prior knowledge our students have. This is the purpose of formative assessment, and a very strong reason to make it such an integral part of our everyday teaching. But it was the idea that children actually have not fully developed frontal cortexes, and the implication that they are actually often unable to make the necessary links between new knowledge and prior learning, that really interested me. This is not something I had heard before, and it is one of the best arguments I have heard for working on students reflecting on their learning, and actively giving them insights into the connections between topics

The importance of practice is known to all teachers, but it was interesting to see the movement of activity in the brain after sustained effortful practice. And the links made with Cognitive Load Theory at this stage (as this is really just reducing the intrinsic load of a task by automating the basic concepts). I will not discuss CLT here, as I have done that elsewhere

The final point of interest was the difference between multisensory learning and learning styles, where the main differences were that all students should experience a range of sensory learning opportunities for a given concept (and be encouraged to link these), and also that these should be separated by time (so as not to cause cognitive overload). This is something I need to work on. With changing my approach with my reading around CLT, the multisensory components of my lessons have definitely taken a hit. I need to really think about how I can incorporate this into my teaching, and most importantly, how I can make the links between the different aspects