Some neuroscience underpinnings to making learning stick

Abstract We can learn from the wisdom of others to maximize success. However, it is unclear how humans take advice to flexibly adapt behavior. Based on data from neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and neuroimaging, a biologically plausible model is developed to illustrate the neural mechanisms of learning from instructions. The model consists of two complementary learning pathways.

"The role of adult education is becoming increasingly important in the framework of policies to promote lifelong learning. Adult participation in training activities, however, is still rather low, despite the incentives and initiatives aimed at allowing all citizens access to education and training at all ages in their lives. Participation tends to decrease concomitantly with increasing age: the major difficulty that elderly people have in learning is due to a deterioration of brain function, causing a progressive weakening of concentration, memory and mental flexibility. Today, advanced researches in neuroscience show that brain ageing may be reversible: the brain is plastic in all stages of life, and its maps can restructure themselves through learning experiences." More info about the Author: www.guglielman.com

The main study skills students presently rely on are massed practice, repetition, rereading, and highlighting which cause a false sense of fluency (Bjork, R. & Bjork, E., 1992). Memory has two strengths, storage strength and retrieval strength with the theory of desirable difficulty stating the harder one has to work to retrieve a memory, the greater the subsequent spike in retrieval and storage strength (Bjork, R. & Bjork, E., 1992; Hattie, 2013). Spaced-repetition, pretesting, interleaving, and regular testing are a few study skills which can lead to deeper learning. Incorporating them into teaching as well as showing students how to use them could lead to deeper learning, stronger retrieval, and longer retention. This paper examines these study skills including examples of how to incorporate them into various classroom activities.