How the Brain Learns:
Lessons for Leadership
Mike Timms
Director, Assessment and Psychometric Research, ACER
Rob Hester
ARC Future Fellow & Associate Professor,
School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne
12 August 2014, VASSP Conference
Collaborating Organisations
Partner Organisations
How the Learning Brain works – evidence-based
practice for assisting learning
Rob Hester
ARC Future Fellow and Associate Professor
School of Psychological Sciences
University of Melbourne
4
Memory Test
Rest
Awake
tired
Dream
wake
snooze
snore
Nap
Yawn
Drowsy
Bed
Pillow
5
Core Concepts
6
Core Concepts
7
Core Concepts
8
Core Concepts
Because memories are formed from synchronously active but
sparse connections within a neural network provides an
explanation their associative nature and imperfections
9
Memory Test
Please write down a list of the words you can remember
from the list I showed you earlier
Order isn’t important
10
Learning
• Sensory processing is integrated with emotional states and motor
planning
• Remembering an event, fact or procedure reactivates the set of
synapses that previously encoded them
• This process also reopens the initial plasticity along with the
probability for further reinforcing or weakening of the activation
pattern
• The latter effect explains the variable and unreliable nature or
memory and why we forget inconsequential daily details
11
Memory
• We do not store information in our long-term memory by making a
literal recording
• We record by relating information in terms of its meaning to us
• we are an active participant in the learning process, including
interpreting, connecting, interrelating and elaborating NOT
SIMPLY RECORDING
– Direct implications for passive learning strategies (note-taking, reading over)
• Our capacity for storing information we want to learn is essentially
unlimited
– Storing information in memory creates capacity because of the new
opportunities for additional linkages and storage
12
Memory
• If information is encoded in memory it will generally remain
stored, though not necessarily accessible
• Accessing information from memory is not ‘playback’ but rather a
fallible process that includes inferring and reconstructing
• When we recall the past, we are driven, unconsciously, to make
our recollections fit our background knowledge, expectations and
current context
– See 9/11
• Retrieved information becomes more recallable in the future
– Retrieval induced forgetting
13
Learning
• In summary
– To create durable and flexible access to information you wish
to learn
1. Achieve a meaningful encoding of that information that is
based upon a broader framework of already known
interrelated concepts and ideas
2. Practice the retrieval process over ever increasing duration
- Life jacket training
14
Learning
• Knowing how to manage our own learning activities is
an important educational tool, but most of us do not
know how to assess and manage our own learning
• Our introspections/intuition about our own learning
appear to be unreliable guide to how we should manage
our own learning
15
Strategies for study
• Manage the conditions of your learning
– Space rather than mass your study sessions on a to-be-learned topic
– Interleave, rather than block, successive study or practice sessions on
separate to be learned topics
– Vary the conditions under which you learn and retrieve to create new and
varied cues for recall
• Beware that all these strategies have short-term costs and can
appear to slow the rate of learning
16
Strategies for study
• Many students are not formally trained in the use of effective
strategies
– Assumption that our education system should teach content
• Students experience may sometimes lead them to believe
ineffective strategies are more effective
– Kornell (2009)
• 90% of High School students had better performance with spaced versus massed practice
• 72% of the students rated mass practice as more effective
• Illusion may be due to the ease of processing
17
Strategies for study
• Many students are not formally trained in the use of effective
strategies
– Assumption that our education system should teach content
• Students experience may sometimes lead them to believe
ineffective strategies are more effective
– Kornell (2009)
• 90% of High School students had better performance with spaced versus massed practice
• 72% of the students rated mass practice as more effective
• Illusion may be due to the ease of processing
• How do we know if these strategies are working, or if we can stop
studying?
18
Memory Test
Please decide whether each of these words was on the
original list I showed you earlier
Daydream
Rest
Snore
Tired
Pillow
Sheet
Sleep
19
Memory Test
How confident (out of 5) are you about each of your
choices?
Daydream
Rest
Snore
Tired
Pillow
Sheet
Sleep
20
Memory Test
Daydream
Rest
Snore
Tired
Pillow
Sheet
Sleep
21
Which impacts learning the most?
1. Study, Study
2. Study, Test
Why does testing improve learning?
“Effortful learning”
Why does testing improve learning?
What happens during learning
• Neurons make new connections through synapse
formation (synaptogenesis)
• Communication among neurons is strengthened or
weakened by patterns of use
A (very) simplified model of feedback
Learner factors
LEARNER
INTERNAL
FEEDBACK
Interactive Two-Feedback-Loops (ITFL) model
(Narciss 2006)
Instructional
factors
TEACHER
EXTERNAL
FEEDBACK
The internal controller
The internal controller
• Processes the learner’s own conception of the task and the
internal feedback
The internal controller
• Processes the learner’s own conception of the task and the
internal feedback
• Compares his/her conception with the internal feedback
The internal controller
• Processes the learner’s own conception of the task and the
internal feedback
• Compares his/her conception with the internal feedback
• Compares his/her conception with the external feedback
The internal controller
• Processes the learner’s own conception of the task and the
internal feedback
• Compares his/her conception with the internal feedback
• Compares his/her conception with the external feedback
• Compares the internal feedback with the external feedback
The internal controller
• Processes the learner’s own conception of the task and the
internal feedback
• Compares his/her conception with the internal feedback
• Compares his/her conception with the external feedback
• Compares the internal feedback with the external feedback
• Generates an internal “control action” (e.g., corrects an error,
asks for clarification, etc)
Enhancing the effect
TYPE OF TEST
TIMING OF TEST
• Items that took longer to
respond to enhanced
learning more
• It has been argued that you
should increase the spacing
between tests
• Other researchers have
found that evenly spaced
tests work just as well
• Either are better than just
‘massed” quizzing
– E.g., short answer, prompted
recall, free recall
• Items that take less effort
produced a smaller effect
– E.g., multiple choice, true or
false
Enhancing the effect
FEEDBACK STYLE
FEEDBACK STYLE
• Make feedback nonthreatening
• Make Feedback relevant
– E.g., computer-based
tutoring where the student
interacts with the system
– E.g., Student testing
his/herself
– Focus on what to do next
– Provide worked examples
Implications for teaching
• Embedded assessment can aid learning
• Embedded assessments that engage the
students in recall of the material
• Students who are studying can test themselves
Thank you!
• We’ve only scratched the surface here
• If you are interested in learning more…
– bring us your business card
– or go to slrc.org.au
– or email us at slc@uq.edu.au