THE LEARNI NG S CI ENTI S TS

Six Strategies for Effective Learning:

A Summary for Teachers
LEA R NI N G S C I EN TI S TS POS TS ,  FOR TEAC HER S

If you read our blog often, you are familiar with the six strategies for effective learning. We have a
number of resources already, but this guide provides a brief explanation of each strategy and compiles a
set of links on the website all in one place. So, if you’re wanting a single reference or to share one starter
blog with a colleague, we hope this will work for you!

Introduction
Cognitive psychologists have identified six key strategies that promote learning in many situations, and
this research can be implemented to promote long-term durable learning. These six strategies have been
heavily investigated for decades, and there is a lot of evidence to suggest their effectiveness in a variety
of situations.

Before digging into the specifics of each strategy, it is important to note that they are very flexible. This
is a good thing, in that it means they can be used in a lot of different situations. However, this also
means that there really isn’t a specific prescription we can provide that will “always work.” Instead,
understanding the strategies and how they work can help instructors and students. Instructors can
implement them in their classrooms in ways that will foster student learning that works best for their
classroom, and students can infuse their study sessions with these strategies in a way that will promote
long-term learning. There are also countless ways that the strategies can be combined to be used
together. For example, teaching one another often uses all 6!

The strategies
Spacing or spreading out learning opportunities over time improves learning. For example, students will
learn and retain more if they study 30 minutes M-F, rather than for 2.5 hours all on one day. Students
should create a schedule with brief study sessions each day and stick to it. Blocking off time works best
because it is easy to procrastinate when an exam is not upcoming. It is also beneficial to spread out the
topics being studied so that there is a space between the repetition of the same ideas. In class, instructors
can repeat the most important concepts in multiple classes; the spaced repetition really helps!

Interleaving basically means jumbling up ideas. Students learn more when they can switch between
different topics. Doing this helps students learn the similarities and differences between different ideas.
In math, for example, students learn more when they solve many different types of problems during
practice rather than solving the same type over and over. This typically leads to more mistakes during
practice, but in the long-run, the students retain their knowledge much longer.

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Retrieval practice involves bringing information to mind from memory. This happens when students
take practice tests or quizzes, but it can be done in other ways too. For example, students can just write
out what they can remember on a blank sheet of paper, or even draw ideas. The key is that they should
bring the information to mind from memory. So, copying one’s notes would not be very helpful, but
trying to summarize their notes from their memory would be very beneficial. The students do not need
to remember everything and can check their notes or course materials after retrieval to fill in gaps. In the
classroom, instructors can utilize frequent low-stakes or no-stakes quizzes, and ask students to jot down
what they can remember about topics in the classroom (not necessarily to be collected).

Concrete examples are often used by instructors. Concrete information is easier to remember than
abstract information, and so concrete examples foster learning. Importantly, research shows that
multiple examples of the same idea, especially with different surface details, helps students understand
the true idea the example is intending to illustrate. This is because novices tend to remember surface
details. Imagine teaching about scarcity and using airline tickets as an example. Students later may
remember scarcity was about flying, but not the rest. Using other examples that have nothing to do with
tickets (e.g., water during a drought) and making the link between the examples explicit for the students
helps them understand the underlying abstract idea.

Elaboration involves asking “how” and “why” questions about a specific topic, and then trying to find
the answers to those questions. The act of trying to describe and explain how and why things work helps
students understand and learn. Students can also explain how the topics relate to their own lives, or take
two topics and explain how they are similar and how they are different. This strategy can be assigned
alone or for pairs of students.

Dual coding is all about combining verbal representations of information (words) with visual
representations of information (pictures/diagrams). When we combine these, it is easier for us to
understand the information being presented. Importantly, this is not the same thing as learning styles.
While students do have preferences, matching these preferences does not help them learn. Instead, we all
learn best when we have multiple representations of the same idea. Importantly, make sure the students
have enough time to digest both representations. When students are studying, they should use multiple
representations and try to explain to themselves how the different representations show the same idea.

A note about difficulty

Importantly, all of these strategies have a couple of very important things in common:

 They are all difficult. The research consistently shows that this difficulty is a good thing; the
strategies that feel easy are the ones that do not promote learning in the long-run.
 They all promote long-term learning. This is important to remember. Often when using the
strategies, it feels to students (and instructors) as though they are not promoting learning. This is
probably due to the difficulty. However, the research shows us that, in the long-term (even 1-2 days
later), these strategies work very well. Conversely, the strategies that feel easy and feel as though
we “really know it” promote “learning” that is almost immediately forgotten (even by the next day).

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Keep this in mind when implementing the strategies, and highlight these points for the students. While
we make judgments about what we think we are learning in the moment, what we really care about is
what we can remember and apply in the future. The strategies should feel difficult, but not so difficult
that the students cannot actually do them. This is where flexibility comes in, and adjustments can be
made so that the students are challenged and not getting everything perfectly right, but are still
somewhat successful.

Additional resources from the website

You can use in your teaching, or give them to students.

 Posters describing each strategy with illustrations for students

o English: http://www.learningscientists.org/posters
o Other languages: http://www.learningscientists.org/poster-translations
 You can find blogs explaining how students can use each strategy. These are written for students
o Spacing: http://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2016/7/21-1
o Interleaving: http://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2016/8/11-1
o Retrieval practice: http://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2016/6/23-1
o Concrete examples: http://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2016/8/25-1
o Elaboration: http://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2016/7/7-1
o Dual coding: http://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2016/9/1-1
o How to use learningscientists.org (for students)
http://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2018/1/11-1
o Since learning styles is so popular (unfortunately without evidence), here is a blog
describing the differences between learning styles and dual coding, and explaining the
problems associated with learning styles: http://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2019/6/6-1
 Podcast episodes explaining how students can use the strategies (2 parts)
o http://www.learningscientists.org/learning-scientists-podcast/2018/3/7/episode-14-how-
students-can-use-spacing-and-retrieval-practice
o http://www.learningscientists.org/learning-scientists-podcast/2018/3/21/episode-15-how-
students-can-use-interleaving-elaboration-dual-coding-and-concrete-examples
 Book, Understanding How We Learn: A Visual Guide. This book contains information about
each of the strategies in more depth (including how to use them flexibly), and chapters with
practical tips for teachers and for students. You can see chapter previews here:
http://www.learningscientists.org/book
 You can peruse www.learningscientists.org for more resources. Our blog is also searchable (see
www.learningscientists.org/archive).

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