Strategies That Improve Learning

Research tells us what works in teaching.

Thank goodness for educational researchers! You and I just don’t have time to test every strategy we use in class ~ but they do. The real question is; how well do we make use of scientific findings when teaching?

My guess is that most of us employ evidenced based techniques when we teach and would like to stay up-to-date when it comes to learning about new research and testing those ideas in our classrooms. With this in mind, here is a list of strategies proven to be effective in education.

How many of these do you do? 

Effective Feedback

• Provide constructive feedback. There is a lot to know about giving feedback that helps students learn.
• Manage cognitive load, the amount of information that is competing for your students’ attention.
• Have students write about math in class.
• Make use of spaced repetition. When it comes to recalling math facts or vocabulary, spaced practice is extremely effective. Students will learn to love the results.
• Use concrete examples of the concepts you are teaching.
• More about efficacy of using concrete examples.
• Include incidental learning during math class.
• Integrate math with other subject areas such as science and art , and paper folding.

More information about effective teaching:

• The Research on Life-Changing Teaching, from edutopia.
• Seven Research Based Strategies explained using teaching fractions as examples.
• How Much does the Public Understand about teaching and learning? sadly not as much as teachers would hope. from neaToday.
• Understanding How We Learn: A Visual Guide, from ERIC. I love this book.
• Same book as above, from the Learning Scientists site. Scroll down for chapter previews.
• Active Learning is more effective that students think! In addition to teaching content, should we teach students how to learn?