Research on What Makes Learning ‘Stick’
Written by the Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork
In the constant rush of our digital world, we have all experienced how hard it can be to remember things. Our brains are wired to forget, but there are research-backed strategies that change how we remember.
According to an article from Edutopia, “rote memorisation can lead to a superficial grasp of material that is quickly forgotten. But new research in the field of neuroscience is starting to shed light on the ways that brains are wired to forget – highlighting the importance of strategies to retain knowledge and make learning stick.”
In a recent article published in the journal Neuron, “neurobiologists Blake Richards and Paul Frankland challenge the predominant view of memory, which holds that forgetting is a process of loss – the gradual washing away of critical information despite our best efforts to retain it. According to Richards and Frankland, the goal of memory is not just to store information accurately but to “optimise decision-making” in chaotic, quickly changing environments. In this model of cognition, forgetting is an evolutionary strategy, a purposeful process that runs in the background of memory, evaluating and discarding information that doesn’t promote the survival of the species.”
How can we fight the way our brains forget things and teach in a way that helps learning really stick?
Waldorf Education leverages the following strategies in our everyday curriculum that increase retention, engagement and long-term knowledge:
The spacing effect: Instead of covering a topic and then moving on, in Waldorf Education, we revisit key ideas throughout the school year and through different avenues of learning. Research shows that students retain more knowledge when they have the opportunity to return to topics over time. (Carpenter et al., 2012; Kang, 2016).
Combine text with images: In Waldorf Education, art seems like a focus, but the reality is, it is a tool to deepen learning and increase retention. Research has found that using images and text in combination, as is done with our students’ Main Lesson Books, helps learning really stick. It is easier to remember what’s been read and seen or drawn and written, instead of either one alone (Carney & Levin, 2002; Bui & McDaniel, 2015).
As another article headline reads, “Want students to remember something? Ask them to draw it.” A new study shows that drawing is superior to activities such as reading or writing because it forces the person to process information in multiple ways: visually, kinesthetically, and semantically. Across a series of experiments, researchers found drawing information to be a powerful way to boost memory, increasing recall by nearly double.
Movement keeps students fully engaged: “In experiments out of Stanford, students who completed creative tasks while walking – such as coming up with unexpected uses for a paperclip – came up with more ideas than those who brainstormed sitting down.” In Waldorf Education, you will frequently see our students jumping rope while learning multiplication tables or clapping our the syllables of spelling words. Why? Because we know that learning sticks better when the whole body is engaged. This approach is research-backed. Don’t take our word for it, a recent article from KQED noted: “The benefits of movement are well-documented: physical activity improves students’ focus, retention, memory consolidation, creativity and mood. Movement breaks – from recess to a short dance party to doing standing stretches at their desks – boost students’ mental sharpness. Research finds that a single workout can improve a student’s ability to focus on a task for up to two hours.”
In Waldorf Education, connections are constantly being made between lessons. Spanning from connections in history that cross over to movement (when students learn to throw a Javelin while studying Greek History) or connections between theatre productions that directly mirror in classroom studies. The impact? “At a neural level, the strength of a memory depends largely on how many connections are made to other memories. An isolated piece of information – such as a trivial fact – is soon forgotten in the brain’s constant effort to prune away unused knowledge. The opposite, however, is also true: The more synaptic connections a memory has, the more it resists eventually being forgotten.”
Waldorf Education approaches learning from multiple perspectives and challenges all students to learn visually, orally, and through kinesthetic. This not only meets a diverse range of learners but it also builds flexible learners who build long-term knowledge and retention.
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