The Master Teacher Blog

A popular saying posits that “It’s not what you know, but who you know that matters.” The core message speaks to the importance of social capital. Of course, what you know also matters—and can be amplified by a strong social network.

Social capital refers to relationships that can provide advice, advocacy, introductions, connections, and much more to the benefit of individuals in personal, social, professional, and other areas of life. Social capital involves networks that people can tap to learn about opportunities, improve social standing, access employment, and other socially beneficial resources.

Successful people typically grow and leverage social capital to help them achieve their life goals. Healthy social networks can create access to benefits such as higher education institutions, employment opportunities, or career advancement. Social capital is the glue that binds individuals, groups, and communities in ways that foster trust, reciprocity, mutual support, and collective progress.

Of course, some students naturally build social capital due to their personality, family, and other connections. However, many students do not have such advantages. They may not even be aware of the importance of building social capital, let alone how to do it. Yet, success in today’s world and workplace is heavily influenced by it.

Our challenge is to help all students, but especially those who may not understand or have access to social capital, build and leverage this important resource. Our instruction, support, and assistance can make a life-changing difference for students who otherwise may miss opportunities and fail to build paths that can lead to lasting success. Let’s explore six strategies we can employ to help students understand and build robust, sustainable social capital.

First, we need to teach students what social capital is and how it can open doors to achieving success in life and work. We can share examples of how successful people build and use social capital. We might even invite a respected adult who is skilled in building and leveraging social capital to engage with students. The key to this step is helping students see that social capital is an important supplement to commitment, hard work, and persistence.

Second, we might give students opportunities to build and practice interpersonal skills such as listening, conversing, and other elements of emotional intelligence. Relationships are key to accumulating social capital, and interpersonal skills are crucial to building and maintaining relationships.

Third, we can encourage students to participate in extracurricular activities, volunteer, and engage in other activities that offer opportunities to form relationships and build social capital with peers who might share interests and have common goals. These activities can help students to further develop skills that are central to social capital development. Additionally, the relationships students develop with peers can lead to introductions and connections beyond their immediate group.

Fourth, we might connect students with local employers and professionals who are willing to mentor, teach, and nurture attitudes. We can encourage and support students to attend career fairs, seminars, and other professional activities to gain insights regarding career choices, gain exposure to people within various careers, and continue to build their social capital.

Fifth, we can coach students to mobilize their social capital by sharing their goals, seeking assistance, and accessing the resources of their social network. It is important to build social capital, but social capital is most useful and important when it is mobilized to create opportunities. Helping students learn how to ask for assistance with courtesy, tact, and confidence can be crucial to leveraging the social capital they build.

Sixth, we need to impress upon students the importance of sharing the social capital they have developed. Social capital thrives when it is shared as often as it is tapped. Finding ways to serve and support others not only builds social capital, but choosing to support the goals and meet the needs of others also makes social capital an even more valuable resource for everyone.

Social capital is not a replacement for learning and diligent work. However, it can position the investment students make in learning to pay dividends in expanded opportunities and rich relationships.

Misconceptions—the inaccurate or incomplete ideas or understanding of a concept, process, or phenomenon—are common in every discipline and aspect of life. We are likely familiar with common historical misconceptions such as that bloodletting can cure a variety of illnesses, the world is flat, and the sun rotates around the earth. We also experience misconceptions in the current world of teaching and learning. For example, many still believe that students have a specific learning style that drives their learning and that intelligence is assigned at birth and cannot be grown. Some students believe that highlighting text is the most effective way to retain what is read and that cramming is good way to learn. A list of possible misconceptions could extend to every area of learning and life.

Of course, some misconceptions have political associations. Some parents and community members may have concerns about the discussion of particular issues, and in some states, discussion of selected conceptions or misconceptions is not permitted. Our considerations regarding whether to address specific misconceptions need to include an awareness of community and policy sentiments and implications, their status in the adopted curriculum, and the relative importance of the concepts involved.

The question is, how can we help students to dispel misconceptions that can interfere with their learning and success in life? We know that simply telling students that they are wrong can invite resistance and lead them to choose not to listen. Instead, we need a process to help us understand where misconceptions may exist, expose students to correct information, and lead them to reexamine and shift their assumptions and beliefs to become consistent with facts and reality. Here is a five-step process to consider.

Step one: Determine where misconceptions exist. We might pretest students in areas that are susceptible to misconceptions. To do this, we can tap our own experience with students, common assumptions, frequent fallacies in the media, and often cherry-picked information to develop assessment prompts. Or we might ask students to write about their assumptions, beliefs, understandings, and other conceptions related to the topic they are about to study. Their responses are likely to contain accurate conceptions as well as any misconceptions that can guide our planning. This strategy will also permit students to see how far they have come once they complete the unit of study.

Step two: Begin with correct conceptions. We can share fact-based, credible, complete information about the topic or concept we are teaching, but we need to avoid arguing or pointing out misconceptions before we share correct information. We might support the information we share with models, graphic representations, and other visual content to clarify and verify information. Another option is to create activities and design experiences that demonstrate the correct conception for students.

Step three: Address existing misconceptions. We can use information from the preassessments to understand where students hold misconceptions. We might also provide comparisons, examples, case studies, and demonstrations to provide further clarity. Our intent is to build on the information we shared about correct conceptions in order to counter the existing assumptions and beliefs. Our purpose is to cause manageable cognitive conflict between what students have assumed or believed and new information they are encountering. However, we need to be careful not to make the misconception the sole focus. Rather, it needs to be part of the larger discussion of what is correct and why it is important. Our goal is to help students to understand why we want them to change their assumptions and beliefs.

Step four: Emphasize the importance of correct understanding. We might discuss with students how correct conceptions can help their future learning. We can contrast their new understanding with how misconceptions can create challenges and interfere with future learning and actions. Additionally, this is a key time for students to have their questions answered and to test implications of what they now know.

Step five: Protect students from backsliding. Even though students might be clear about a correct conception now, over time they can forget and fall back on previous misconceptions. We need to give students “memory tags” to recognize when they hear people state the misconception or when they may be tempted to return to the misconception. To accomplish this goal, we might have students explain how their thinking has evolved and describe their new understanding. For example, we might ask students to complete this sentence: I used to think…, but now I know… Depending on the topic and maturity of our students, we can even have students present arguments to defend their new understanding. The key is to give students experiences that are strong enough to trigger recognition when they encounter the misconception in the future.

Misconceptions are normal, common experiences in learning. They can have many sources such as mishearing information, exposure to misinformation, or making false assumptions as they try to make sense of experiences. Misconceptions are opportunities for us to correct and build understanding. However, we need to be careful not to create defensiveness and rejection before we have an opportunity to teach.

Does it seem like your students’ attention spans have shrunk? Do you wish that your students would ignore the distractions within and around them and just focus? You are not alone. The cost of dwindling focus in instructional minutes, student study time, and unaccomplished learning can be staggering. Obviously, we want to maximize the strength and length of our students’ attention spans to take full advantage of our investment in teaching and our students’ investment in learning.

Several recent studies have suggested that attention spans have grown shorter over the past few years because of technology, the pandemic, and other factors. We need to reverse that trend for our students; they need our guidance and support to meet that challenge.

A place to begin our discussion is to consider how long we might expect students to be able to pay attention. Of course, attention spans vary, but they tend to correlate with developmental stages. A basic, very simple guideline to calculate expected attention spans is to follow this equation: age multiplied by 2-5 minutes equals average concentration span. As examples, an average seven-year-old might be expected to focus for anywhere from 14-35 minutes, and a twelve-year-old might be expected to focus for 24-60 minutes.

Obviously, we want our students to be able to focus for the duration nearer the top of the formula range than the bottom. The question is, “How can we help students to increase their capacity to concentrate deeply and for an extended period of time?” Here are fifteen strategies which we can share and practice with our students.

Tend to physical factors:

• Advise students to find a location in which they feel comfortable. For example, in the classroom, we may offer options beyond sitting in a standard desk. At home or elsewhere, a location free of interruptions and noise competition can make a significant difference.
• Counsel students to consider the temperature and adjust to be comfortable. Adding a sweater or shedding a jacket can add to comfort and the ability to concentrate.
• Urge students to collect and organize in advance any resources and materials that will be necessary to complete the task or project on which they want to focus.
• Encourage students to stretch or engage in moderate exercise before attempting to concentrate to increase blood flow and their ability to focus.
• Remind students to drink plenty of water or other hydrating beverage prior to and during periods when they want to focus.

Leverage environmental factors:

• Encourage students to take brief breaks after completing a task or reaching a convenient “break point” in their work. A short walk, visit to the bathroom, trip to fill a water bottle, moment to briefly check in with friends, or other mental refocusing can refresh their energy and restore their ability to focus. Meanwhile, their brain will continue to work in the background.
• Coach students to remove immediate distractions such as technology applications and notifications that may tempt them to lose focus. Social media, especially, can be a persistent distraction. Some people find music an assist to concentration while others find it distracting, so the role and value of music often is dependent on the student.
• Suggest that when extended focus is needed, students change locations periodically. Not only can a change of environment refresh the ability to focus, but the brain also takes notice of the environment during times of focus and makes subtle connections to what is learned. As a result, learning recall can be extended.

Manage operational factors:

• Encourage students to counter mental distractions such as worries, ideas, questions, and other elements occupying their minds by spending time before starting a task to make a list of anything might be distracting them. Once the list is made, coach students to set aside those items for now and attend to them once they have finished the task before them.
• Similarly, suggest that students keep a pen and notepad or device screen open to note unrelated and distracting items that surface as they are focusing. A quick note can allow students to be confident that they will not forget while continuing to concentrate.
• Advise students to avoid multitasking. While engaging in multiple activities simultaneously may feel like efficiency, multitasking is really just task switching, and it undermines the ability to think deeply and focus clearly.
• If extended sitting creates a concentration challenge, we can suggest that students stand or even walk around while they focus.

Other strategies:

• Encourage students to set a time goal to maintain their focus. Students can gradually increase the time and extend their ability to focus as they gain experience in achieving their goals. For many students, this activity can become a personal competition to extend and track their ability to concentrate.
• When students need to focus on multiple tasks over extended time, such as studying related to a variety of subjects, suggest that they set intermediate time goals for each subject followed by brief breaks and reengagement with a different subject. The cumulative impact can be growth in the length of time students can maintain focus while also sustaining focus from one task to another.
• Coach students to overcome learning blocks and barriers as they work by asking themselves, “Is there a better strategy I can try, a better way to allocate my effort, or resource I can tap to move forward?” Rather than allow frustration to take over, students can shift their focus without sacrificing connection to the work at hand.

Focusing is a skill, and like many other skills, goal setting, practice, and gradual expansion can make a significant difference over time. With our encouragement, coaching, and reinforcement, students can regain any loss in concentration ability they may have experienced and even expand their ability to focus in ways that make success in learning and life a likely outcome.

Our brains work best when challenged—but not when overloaded. When we encounter new information or are attempting to learn new content, we need to monitor and manage the rate, complexity, and volume of what we are asking our brains to absorb, process, and store.

The amount and nature of new information we are asking our brains to manage is known as cognitive load. New information is initially stored in our working memory. Cognitive load refers to the amount of working memory required to complete a learning task. Once information is learned, it is stored in long-term memory, where we can access it in the future.

Unfortunately, our working memory has limited capacity to process information. Consider that most people can manage between five and nine items in our working memory at any time. However, we can only process between two and four items simultaneously. Even more challenging, information not used within as little as fifteen seconds is lost from memory unless later reinforced or reintroduced.

Our task is to monitor and manage the cognitive load our students experience in their working memory while learning. We need to pay attention to the pace, nature, and amount of information students must hold in their working memory and process at any time during their learning efforts. Additionally, we must avoid presenting them with too much information and risk having important information being ignored and abandoned while other, less salient elements receive attention.

Further, when students are asked to deal with large amounts of complex information, they are likely to experience frustration and growing anxiety. These and other distracting emotions increase cognitive load and can interfere with optimal brain functioning.

Our challenge is to maximize learning by managing cognitive load while helping students to focus on what matters most and what needs to be processed and moved to long-term memory. Fortunately, there are several instructional and contextual strategies we can tap to support this goal. Here are ten tools and techniques we can employ:

• Discuss the purpose and utility of what students are asked to learn. Knowing what is important—and why—can help students focus their working memory on what is crucial and needs to be stored in long-term memory.
• Focus on clear, specific, attainable goals. Students are more likely to engage and persist when they see goals within reach if they give reasonable effort.
• Develop and follow routines that support learning. Routines reduce surprises and uncertainty, thus lessening dependence on working memory and freeing space to accept and manage new information.
• Help students to make connections with what they already know. Point out and review past learning on which students can build new learning. Also, invite students to reflect on what they already know and where they can make connections.
• Break down complex information and introduce new content in small bites. Scaffold challenging content to build student learning capacity and confidence.
• Introduce information via multiple modes. Combining text, visual, and auditory input can enhance understanding and lessen the cognitive load students experience. Adding movement and other kinesthetic elements to the learning experience can be even more beneficial.
• Provide graphic organizers. Mind maps, T-charts, and other supports can help students organize new information and increase recall when information has been moved to long-term memory.
• Minimize distractions in the learning environment. Excessive noise, visual distractions, and materials unrelated to the learning task can compete for attention and increase cognitive load.
• Offer partial solutions to increase focus on the most challenging elements. Providing support in less crucial areas can help students see a path to success without becoming preoccupied by the distracting details and features of the challenge.
• Be cognizant of emotional tone and elements that may compete for students’ attention. Lowering the stakes during initial learning attempts, providing a supportive environment, and encouraging students as they learn can make an important difference in their ability to focus.

Managing cognitive load is an important challenge when introducing new concepts and teaching new skills to our students. However, cognitive load issues are not just for young learners. We, too, need to monitor and manage our own cognitive load as we learn, manage new tasks, and balance multiple responsibilities.

We know that feedback is among the most powerful learning supports we can offer to students. However, students are often reluctant (even resistant) to feedback, as it can feel like criticism, and implementing what they are told may seem as though it is beyond their skills and current capacity.

Consequently, we need to be thoughtful as we plan and deliver feedback to learners. Researchers advise that effective feedback must include five key elements; it must be timely, specific, actionable, objective, and goal focused. Unless feedback comes soon after a learning attempt, students can neglect to do anything with it or forget it entirely. Students also need to know exactly what behavior or actions we are addressing, and they need be able to take meaningful action in response. Effective feedback needs to be free of judgment. Finally, when our feedback is connected to a goal that is meaningful to the student, it is more likely to be accepted and acted on.

Of course, our students themselves play an important role in determining whether the feedback we offer is implemented in a meaningful way. The more often students receive quality feedback, the more open they often are to receiving it. However, we can move this process to the next level by helping students develop mindsets that prepare them to receive and act on feedback.

We might share with students that the highest performers in any profession use feedback to stay at an elite level. For example, the best athletes use feedback to gain an edge on their competition. Accomplished musicians and other artists seek feedback to constantly improve their performance. Successful companies also regularly seek feedback from customers to ensure that their products and services are the best they can be.

However, each of these consumers of feedback have important attitudes or mindsets about feedback that makes what they hear useful and helps them to improve. While the mindsets that high performers have regarding feedback might be slightly different, here are five feedback-leveraging mindsets that we can teach to and coach in our students.

I know that feedback is about my learning; it is not a judgment of me. One of the most challenging aspects of receiving feedback is that it can feel like commentary or criticism about who we are. We need to continually reinforce for students that feedback is intended to help them be successful. We need to be careful to always focus our feedback on the actions or behavior of students, not on their character, personality, or identity.

I can improve regardless of my current performance. Hope and confidence are key success drivers when learning is challenging. This perspective relates to what is called a growth mindset. We can teach students and share research showing that intelligence is not assigned at birth and is not unchangeable, but rather, with practice, effort, and commitment, anyone can improve. Equally important, the more we work to improve, the more progress we see.

I control the strategies and conditions necessary for improving. Learning strategies are key to whether students can effectively use the feedback we offer. We empower learning when we teach students strategies such as retrieval practice, interleaving, concept maps, deliberate and distributed practice, self-testing, and others. The more learning strategies students can tap to support their learning, the better able they are to utilize the feedback they receive.

I use feedback to connect my efforts to my goals. Student goal setting is a powerful tool for helping students to focus their attention and efforts, monitor their progress, and build their confidence. When we connect our feedback to the goals students have set and are working toward, we make their learning more efficient and support them to become increasingly independent learners.

I am empowered to ask questions about and clarify feedback I receive. Students are often reluctant to follow up and ask questions to gain a clear understanding of the feedback they receive. Yet, as students move beyond listening and begin to engage in the content and implications of feedback, they understand more deeply and take greater ownership of their actions. Rarely, if ever, should we provide feedback that is not followed by opportunities for questions and discussion.

Feedback is a powerful learning tool, but students must learn how to think about and use it in order for that feedback to deliver on its potential. These five mindsets are good places to start that process.

There is a surprising amount of confusion about the nature, intent, and effectiveness of feedback and praise. Some people may be providing praise when what is actually needed is feedback. Others may think that they are providing feedback when the content of their communication is really praise.  

A commonly offered differentiation between feedback and praise is that feedback is intended to improve performance while praise is intended to recognize it. In other words, praise faces backward while feedback faces forward. However, this description ignores both the role of feedback in helping students to understand what they did well and the power of praise to influence repetition of valued and desired behavior. Feedback at times may be a non-judgmental description of an action without a specific plan for next steps, and praise can be a straightforward recognition of something done well without an ulterior motive.  

Meanwhile, feedback and praise share some important characteristics. For example, feedback and praise are both most effective when they are specific. Generalized observations make neither feedback nor praise an effective behavioral influence. To have a behavioral impact, both need to focus on factors or behaviors over which the student has control. Focusing on good processes, effort, and choices are factors students can continue to invest in and improve; ability and mere circumstance are not. 

Furthermore, the recipients of feedback and praise can have different needs and may be open to different influences. For example, some people value praise, but only if it is in private. Others appreciate praise most when it is given in the presence of others. Feedback, on the other hand, should almost always be given in private, unless the feedback involves and is intended for an entire group.  

Of course, praise by definition is positive, and feedback can be either positive or negative. Although, it bears noting that the most effective feedback is presented in positive language and focuses on achieving success. Feedback at times will be negative, but too much negative feedback can quickly become overwhelming and block change rather than encourage it. Praise may be countered with criticism, but many experts recommend at least a 4:1 ratio of praise to criticism.  

Of equal importance is how students perceive the feedback or praise they receive. Neither feedback nor praise is effective if students see it as manipulative; that is, intended to serve our interests rather than theirs. They are not likely to respond to praise that is over-the-top positive, nor are they likely to accept feedback that is premised on their having knowledge and skills beyond what they possess.  

So why might this discussion be important? First, we need to recognize that there are times when feedback will be most effective in building understanding and creating a path toward success. It is a transparent, intentional process to support learning and behavioral change. There are other times and circumstances when praise can draw attention, provide reinforcement, and lead to behavioral change without the planning and structure that feedback requires. We need to base our choice on our awareness of circumstances, timing, and knowledge of the student.  

Second, regardless of whether we choose praise or feedback, we need to avoid the pitfalls of generalities, factors beyond learner’s control, and inauthenticity. If our intent is to have our words make an impact, we need to give students information with which they can do something. Of course, if we have no intent beyond communicating our observations, a simple statement may be enough.  

Finally, when employed with thought, sensitivity, and good judgment, feedback and praise can both be powerful tools to support the success of our students. Both actions can give students information they need to build motivation and guide choices and actions. Each can have slightly different purposes and may be delivered in varying contexts. However, both need to be part of our professional repertoire.  

The assumption that the rate at which students learn varies drives many common grouping, instructional, and grading practices. It may seem obvious that some students learn at a faster pace while other students need more time to make a similar amount of progress. But what if this assumption is wrong? 

What if, in fact, most learners actually learn at the same rate? A major peer-reviewed study conducted at Carnegie Mellon University set out to discover why and how some learners learn faster than others. The study included more than 7000 youth and adult learners from a variety of backgrounds, learning histories, and geographic areas, as well as 1.3 million observations, and 27 datasets. Participants were given a variety of learning tasks in math, science, and language, and their progress was closely monitored.  

To the surprise of the researchers, the data showed that there was very little variance in the pace of learning across populations. They discovered that the determinative factor is the amount of background knowledge learners bring to the learning challenge. Those labeled as “fast learners” possessed more background knowledge to apply to their learning efforts, not special skills or talents. Of course, elements such as level of motivation and strength of memory can impact the amount of persistence and length of learning retention, but these factors only complement learning efforts. 

To use a baseball metaphor, some students come to learning tasks with academic background knowledge that already places them on second or third base, while other students may have so little background knowledge that they are barely at first base. Of course, students on all three bases may be capable of reaching home and “scoring,” but the students on first base have a much longer distance to travel to be successful. In this context, it is not difficult to understand why students with limited background knowledge are less likely to “score” consistently. Yet, most grading systems are weighted heavily toward those who “cross home plate,” not how far they have come.  

This research calls into question several common assumptions about learning and traditional grading practices. As we reflect on the implications of the Carnegie Mellon study, there are several aspects of common practice worthy of debate. Here seven questions to start the discussion: 

1. Should grades reflect what students know at the end of a teaching and learning cycle, or should grades reflect what they have learned during that cycle? 

2. If learning success is heavily dependent on background knowledge, should more time be spent building and activating background knowledge to better “level the playing field” before engaging in new instruction? 

3. Should students be assessed prior to instruction to facilitate the documentation of what they learn? 

4. Does a student who initially lacked background knowledge deserve to call “foul” if another student who learned less than that student receives a higher grade? 

5. Would giving students a grade based on what they learn regardless of their initial background knowledge be comparable to giving a prize for effort? Why or why not? 

6. Since academic background knowledge is highly correlated with race and socioeconomic status, is grading solely on what students know at the end of a teaching and learning cycle inequitable? 

7. Should students receive two grades: one grade for what they know and one for what they have learned during a teaching and learning cycle? 

This study raises important questions about how we engage learners and document learning. Now is a good time to reexamine our assumptions about the rate and nature of learning. We also need to revisit traditional grading practices to ensure that we are not placing too much emphasis on what students know at the expense of what they have learned.  

Reference:

Koedinger, K. R., Carvalho, P. F., Liu, R., and McLaughlin, E. A. (2023). An astonishing regularity in student learning rate. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States of America, 120(13). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2221311120 

By this time of year, students often fall into a pattern of using a familiar yet narrow set of study strategies. While some of their go-to approaches may seem to be working well enough, exposure to and use of a wider array of strategies can break up tired routines, add novelty to study experiences, increase the amount of learning students gain, and lengthen the time they retain it.  

Students may be unaware of additional effective ways to study and need instruction and support to try them out. Some students may know additional strategies, but they have gradually migrated away from them and need a reminder. Students may also be reluctant to try new study techniques, assuming that the strategies they are using are good enough.  

Regardless, we want students to know and be able to apply the best study strategies for the content or skill they are learning. We also know that when students play an active role in exploring, practicing, and deciding the best strategies for themselves, they are more likely to engage with and ultimately adopt the tools that meet their needs.  

Consider dedicating time during a coming week or unit to introducing and having students try out a variety of study strategies. Each day might feature a different study strategy for students to apply and evaluate. The curriculum content and skills you already have planned for the week or unit can be a useful area of application for a set of study strategies that are research-based and experience-proven. We might even choose a fun title for the series such as Put-Study-Strategies-to-the-Test Week or Five-Days-of-Study-Tool Tryouts. The key is to position students to try, reflect, and assess the impact of each study strategy on their learning and recall.  

Each day of the week might feature a different study strategy for students to test. Once we have introduced a piece of content, a new skill, or a learning challenge, we might teach or review the learning strategy to be tested that day or evening. We can begin class the following day with feedback from students about their study strategy experience and invite recommendations for how and when the strategy might be used.  

Here is a potential line-up of strategies students could test over the course of a week. Of course, you might spread the tryout period out and address one study tool each week throughout a unit. The key is to plan for the intentional application of these strategies, however that best fits your particular schedule, curriculum, and students. 

Skill 1/Monday—Self-Quizzing  

Advise students to create questions and pre-assess themselves on the topic or content before they begin to study. Even incorrect answers help to focus attention and look for key information as their study period unfolds. When finished studying, students can self-test again, using questions from the pre-assessment and developing other questions that seem relevant from the study session. The time spent pre- and post-testing themselves will generate more learning than additional time they might have spent simply rereading or reviewing highlighted content.  

Skill 2/Tuesday—Interleaving   

Coach students to include multiple skills or concepts within the same learning or study session. For example, students might study math and chemistry in the same session, mix new information with review of past learning, or address content out of chronological order. The process of addressing multiple concepts or skills in the same session keeps the brain alert and improves its ability to differentiate elements and aspects of the content students are learning.  

Skill 3/Wednesday—Drawing/Visual Organizers  

Drawing pictures of what we want to remember has been shown to be more than twice as powerful as writing down new content. It is important to note that the artistic talent displayed, or the quality of drawing students produce, does not appear to influence the benefits gained from the drawing activity. Further, the amount of time invested in drawing pictures for this purpose also does not appear to be a significant factor in the strategy's effectiveness. Even a few minutes spent drawing what students read and hear can generate significant advantages in later recall.  

Skill 4/Thursday—Retrieval Practice  

This strategy can fit well later in the week or unit when we want students to recall what was learned earlier or access background information in order to prepare them for new learning. Students begin with a “brain dump” by recounting, verbally or in writing, everything they can recall from prior learning related to the recall target. Students can quickly refresh their memories while identifying areas that may need reinforcement. Interestingly, this approach has been shown to be more efficient and effective than reteaching. Of course, we can encourage students to repeat this process on their own as they prepare for exams individually or in small groups. A key benefit associated with this activity is its ability to extend recall well beyond the completion of a unit of study or an exam.   

Skill 5/Friday—Teach a Friend  

Have students develop a mini lesson to teach the content or skill they are learning and share their lesson with a family member, friend, or classmate. The process of organizing information and sharing with others helps to deepen understanding, clear up confusion, and fill learning gaps. In addition, teaching consolidates new learning and extends learning retention.  

We want to give our students access to the best and widest set of study strategies possible. The more options they have, the more likely they will be to choose an option that works for them. When we involve students in exploring and testing study tool options, we also increase the likelihood that they will remember and continue to use a wider array of tools after they leave us. 

Background knowledge plays an outsized role in learning success. In fact, a recent major, peer-reviewed study points to background knowledge as a key factor in determining whether and how learning occurs. The researchers intended to study what accounts for why some students appear to learn faster than others. However, they discovered that rates of learning vary little across most populations. What appears to accelerate the learning of some students is the amount of related background knowledge they possess and their ability to apply it to the learning task before them.  

The study was conducted at Carnegie Mellon University and was released in early 2023. It included more than 7000 youth and adult learners from a variety of backgrounds, learning histories, and geographic areas, as well as 1.3 million observations and 27 datasets. Participants were given a variety of learning tasks in math, science, and language.

Given the role background knowledge plays in learning, our challenge is to do all that we can to ensure that our students possess what they need to learn successfully. We also need to help students activate the background knowledge they already possess. If students haven’t recently engaged with their relevant existing background knowledge, it may not be immediately available to assist their learning efforts. Further, we must help students make connections between their background knowledge and the learning with which they are about to engage.

Admittedly, students come to our classrooms with varying amounts of background knowledge. For many students, their family background (including a history of formal education), levels of parental and familial engagement, and even economic and cultural factors, can influence the academic background knowledge they possess. Yet, there are a variety of steps we can take and activities in which we can engage students to assess and build background knowledge before we begin planned instruction. Here are five initial activities upon which we can build:

• Pre-assessment activities. We might have exploratory conversations with students about what they already know, or we might ask them to respond to a series of prompts in order to uncover their current knowledge, understanding, and areas of misconception.
• Storytelling. We can share engaging stories with students to fill in information gaps, help them see relevance in what they are going to learn, and spark interest in the topic.
• Virtual field trips. We can employ videos and other media to help students to understand elements (such as historical events or figures), build context, and experience authentic applications.
• Graphic organizers. We might use mind maps, charts, and other structures as advance organizers to build understanding and reveal important relationships.
• Visual representations. We might choose tangible objects or pictures to demonstrate key concepts, connections, and content.

Many students may have previous experience, or otherwise have background knowledge, that is relevant to what they are about to learn, but they may not immediately recall what they have learned. Yet, with some refreshing and reminding, their background knowledge is likely to be renewed in preparation of supporting their learning. Consider these activities to assist in activating background knowledge:

• Vocabulary review. When we have students revisit key terms and language associated with what they have previously learned, we can stimulate their recall and uncover what they already know.
• Brief reteaching. We can provide students with brief reteaching lessons to activate their recall and emphasize elements of past learning that will be important in the learning that lies ahead.
• Peer conversations. We might give pairs of students discussion prompts that draw on what they know and invite recall of previously learned content. After a discussion, students might record or report what they learned about what they already know.
• History mystery. We might conjure a fun mystery that will require students to draw on past learning to solve. We could include hints and clues that point to key elements of past learning as assists to solving the mystery.

The final step in tapping background knowledge is to help students connect what they already know with what they are going to learn. While building and activating prior knowledge sets the stage for learning, making connections can jump-start the process. Here are some options on which to build:

• Present a preview. Once students have built the necessary background information and refreshed what they already know, we might present a preview of what they will learn next. Following our introduction, we can present questions or lead a discussion about how what students already know might connect with and support what they will be learning.
• Tap curiosity. We might present a question or dilemma that stimulates imagination and “hooks” students on finding answers. When the “hook” is embedded in what students already know, and points to what they are going to learn, it will be a sure winner.
• Design a small-scale problem. We can present students with small-scale problems that can be solved with information they already have and skills they already possess. We might follow up with an introduction to the new learning that builds on what students already know but requires making connections and going beyond their current knowledge and skills.
• Create a simulation. We might design a multi-part simulation, the first phase of which can be engaged with the background knowledge students already possess. When students reach a barrier or challenge that demands more knowledge or skill, we can introduce new learning to complete the next phase, and the cycle can be repeated as new learning grows and becomes more complex.

The crucial role that background knowledge plays in learning demands that we ensure that students have the knowledge and skill foundations to benefit from our instruction. We also must be certain that the background knowledge students possess is active and ready to be tapped. Finally, we need to help students to make the connections necessary to allow what they already know to support what they are going to learn.

Reference:

Koedinger, K. R., Carvalho, P. F., Liu, R., and McLaughlin, E. A. (2023). An astonishing regularity in student learning rate. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States of America, 120(13). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2221311120