As students prepare for exams, we ask them to memorize a lot of material. But what do we know about how the memory works?

Watch this crash course video.

Four key ideas to get started:

1. Learning depends on a complex blend of cognitive, emotional, and contextual factors. Here is a useful summary of what research tells us about the roles that mindset, cognition, emotions, and identity play in learning.
2. We should be aware of the difference between learning and performance, to make sure we are looking for deep learning and not merely the performance of what appears to be learning.
3. There are research-supported strategies students can use to ensure their learning lasts. Here are three brain-based activities that support deeper learning in all ages.
4. A sense of meaning and purpose fuels deeper learning. This is a fascinating study of how narrative-building is an indicator of deep thinking in its impact on a student’s “whole brain.

This infographic illustrates four ways of learning. Of course, there are other ways, as well, and we each have our own learning style; some learn experientially or socially, others more intellectually. Which of the four ways in this infographic are the most significant for you?

How can we best begin and end our lessons? In two articles, Adam Riches offers ideas and advice for opening lessons and bringing them to a close. Here he focuses on lesson starts.

There are a number of reports that speak about the skills that will be required of our students in the future.

• Defining Education 4.0: A taxonomy for the future of learning, World Economic Forum, January 2023. Across a wide range of research into the future of work by the World Economic Forum and other organizations, employers are not only signalling demand for creativity, critical thinking, problem solving and skills relating to the development and use of technology but are placing more and more emphasis on interpersonal and socio-emotional skills. The latter include the ability to collaborate, coordinate and communicate effectively with others. In short, the future of education lies in empowering young learners to embrace and develop their uniquely human qualities – those unlikely to ever be replaced by technology. See also Building a Common Language for Skills at Work: A Global Taxonomy provides a framework for aligning around a universal language for skills. It synthesizes and builds on existing taxonomies by integrating definitions and categorizations of skills that we know to be of growing relevance in a fast-changing labour market. It consists of both an interactive taxonomy with definitions as well as recommendations for adoption and use cases.
• Institute of the Future: A useful contextual image is provided by Institute for the Future. Click HERE to access the visual and HERE for the full report.
• NESTA: The Future of Skills: Employment in 2030. Click HERE to access the report. The results emphasize the importance of both inter-personal skills, system skills and higher-order cognitive skills (e.g. originality and fluency of ideas, learning strategies and active learning {the ability of students to set goals, ask relevant questions, get feedback as they learn and apply that knowledge meaningfully in a variety of contexts}).
• Knowledge Works: The Future of Learning: Redefining Readiness from the Inside Out. Click HERE to access the report.
• World Economic Forum, The Future of Jobs (January 2016). Click HERE to access the Executive Summary and HERE for the full report. See The 10 vital skills you will need for the future of work (Bernard Marr, Forbes, April 2019)
• The skills needed to survive the robot invasion of the workplace, Jeff Desjardins, June 2018: An infographic that summarizes the skills needed in 2020 and beyond to take advantage of the shifting landscape of work.
• Capabilities | Competencies | ‘Soft Skills’. What attributes and expertise are necessary to navigate life in an increasingly complex world? In Australia the Mitchell Report ‘The capable country: cultivating capabilities in Australian education’ (October 2018, Kucas & Smith) argues that “in large part, their success relies on how well they grasp the “how” of learning, what it looks like to be a curious, creative, problem solving, team player.” This is a good report that focuses on the capabilities | habits of mind | attributes | competencies | non-cognitive skills that employers are looking for. Education in the past focused on the ‘3Rs’, knowledge and skills associated with reading, writing and arithmetic. There has been a worldwide shift away from the idea of learning as only about disciplines, to recognition of other attributes – the capabilities discussed in this report.  The existence of international frameworks, such as the UNESCO ‘transversal competencies and the OECD’s efforts to define and select key competencies (OECD, 2018), is perhaps the most powerful argument of all for an increasingly capability-focused world. As well as tests in English, Maths and Science, each PISA test cycle includes at least one “innovative assessment domain” such as ‘creative problem solving’ (2012), ‘collaborative problem solving’ (2015), ‘global competence’ (2018) and ‘creative thinking’ (2021). Other examples of measuring of capabilities include a Character Card to report student development in zest, grit, self‐control, optimism, curiosity, gratitude, and social intelligence at Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) schools in the USA (KIPP Foundation), and the Brookings Institution’s Soft Skills Report Card. Capabilities have also been put forward by the World Economic Forum, classified into ‘foundational literacies’, ‘competencies’ and ‘character qualities’ (World Economic Forum,   2016).The report groups the competencies | capabilities into the following two clusters. Each capability is a cluster of knowledge and skills – an interweaving of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that form the competencies that drive actions. Critical and creative thinking (Critical thinking | Creativity | Meta-cognition | Problem solving) Personal and social capability (Collaboration | Motivation | Self-efficacy | Conscientiousness | Grit | Perseverance)
• Bernard Marr, 8 things every school must do to prepare for the 4th industrial revolution, Forbes, May 2019. “The 4th Industrial Revolution will dramatically change the way we relate to one another, live, work, and educate our children. These shifts are enabled by smart technologies, including artificial intelligence, big data, augmented reality, blockchain, the Internet of Things, and automation. These technologies are disrupting every industry across the world at unprecedented speed. For our children to be prepared to engage in a world alongside smart machines, they will need to be educated differently than in the past.” The8 things are: (1) redefine the purpose of education; (2) improve STEM education; (3) develop human potential; (4) adapt to lifelong learning models; (5) alter educator training; (6) make schools makerspaces; (7) international mindfulness; (8) change higher education.

The Pomodoro Technique helps us to avoid procrastination and distractions in study habits.

Click HERE for a short video introducing the technique – you can use it with your students.

Mindtools has a whole section of tools on Time Management. Click HERE.

SelfControl is a free and open-source application for macOS that lets you block your own access to distracting websites, your mail servers, or anything else on the Internet. Just set a period of time to block for, add sites to your blacklist, and click "Start." Until that timer expires, you will be unable to access those sites—even if you restart your computer or delete the application.

Wunderlist is a cloud-based task management application. It allows users to manage their tasks from a smartphone, tablet, computer and smartwatch.

Understood: This is a great website to explore with staff, students and parents.  It is full of resources to support students and adults who have learning and thinking differences, like dyslexia and ADHD.

"We’re dedicated to growing and shaping a world where everyone who learns and thinks differently feels supported at home, at school, and at work; a world where people with all types of disabilities have the opportunity to enjoy meaningful careers; a world where more communities embrace differences. Because differences make the world worth exploring. Differences define who we are. Differences are our greatest strength."

Understood website contains some great videos of students speaking about how they learn and some of the challenges they face. They are a great resource to use with colleagues in our professional development.