Read "Ten Principles of Learning"
Ten Principles of Learning
The following is a list of ten of the many evidence-based principles of learning that have been identified. These ten were selected because they are likely to apply to one or more of the responsibilities assigned to you as a UTA. In other words, you are more likely to have a chance to use them as you work with students in your assigned course or to suggest one or more of them to students as an approach to consider to improve their study habits.
- Make it relevant and real: Students learn more readily when they think what they are learning is relevant to their lives.
- Rehearse and connect: Rehearsing what is being taught and connecting it to what they already know facilitates student learning.
- Motivate: Think back to what you learned about immediacy. Research shows that students learn more when they are motivated by instructors or others who inspire them and who are enthusiastic. This could be you!
- Actively engage: Active engagement in a learning activity improves learning compared to passive instruction. Consider this if you are conducting a review session or office hours. What could you do to actively engage the students in your course?
- Same "stuff", different ways: Being exposed to the same material multiple times but in different ways facilitates learning. Using different modes of presentation (listening, watching, doing, etc.) uses different parts of the brain.
- Space your learning: Students learn better when they review or practice new material multiple times at spaced intervals rather than cramming all at once. You can think of it as strength training for the brain. Strength training is more effective when done multiple times at spaced intervals.
- Weave the old with the new: Weave in a review of old material as new material is being learned. The material can be different topics in the same course or material from different courses. Regardless, weaving old material into new material that is being learned has been shown to be more effective than blocked learning (i.e., focusing on one topic completely before moving on to another) for developing categorization skills and problem solving.
- Quiz yourself: Students learn more when they are tested or test themselves on material than from reading or reviewing it. Testing yourself or being tested involves greater cognitive effort than reading and reviewing.
- Learn from mistakes: As much as no one likes to make mistakes, we actually learn more when we make mistakes and correct them. Interestingly, research with mice supports a biological basis for this. It turns out that when an error signal is received, the brain releases calcium, which enhances the ability to learn.
- Get exercise and rest: Exercising and getting enough sleep improve learning.
Adapted from: Nilson LB. (2016) Teaching At Its Best: A Research-based Resource for College Instructors (4th ed.; pp. 3-15) Josey-Bass.