Words of Wisdom from How We Learn: The New Science of Education and the Brain Stanislas Dehaene

We’re never too old to learn something new, in fact, it is one of our greatest human abilities. But how do our brains retain knowledge, and what is the most effective way to learn?

In How We Learn, leading neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene explores all the strategies of learning, including the psychological, neuronal, synaptic and molecular mechanisms of learning. Dehaene supports his explanations with case studies of children who learned despite huge difficulty and trauma.

Regardless of age, Dehaene believes we can ‘learn to learn’ by utilising the four pillars of the brain’s learning algorithm: attention, active engagement, error feedback and consolidation.

This is one of the most comprehensive books I’ve read on learning, which I would recommend to anyone curious about brain function and their capacity to learn new things.

1. Structured learning is important

“it is crucial for students to be motivated, active, and engaged, this does not mean that they should be left to their own devices. The failure of constructivism shows that explicit pathological guidance is essential. Teachers must provide their students with a structured learning environment designed to progressively guide them to the top as quickly as possible.“

In summary, while it is crucial for students to be motivated, active, and engaged, this does not mean that they should be left to their own devices. The failure of constructivism shows that explicit pathological guidance is essential. Teachers must provide their students with a structured learning environment designed to progressively guide them to the top as quickly as possible.

2. Be curious

“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.” – Albert Einstein, 1952

3. Move from one error to the next

“Everyone should learn to happily make errors…. To think is to move from one error to the next.” – Alain, Propos sur l’education (1932)

4. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes

“The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.” – Attributed to Theodore Roosevelt, 1900

5. Test yourself

“This conclusion was attained in a famous series of experiments by the American psychologist Henry Roediger and his collaborators. In one study, they asked students to memorise words in a fixed amount of time, but with several different strategies. One group was told to spend all their time studying, in eight short sessions. The second group received six sessions of studying, interrupted by two tests. Finally, the third group alternated four brief study sessions and four tests. Because all three groups had the same amount of time, testing actually reduced the time available for study. Yet the results were clear: forty-eight hours later, the students’ memory of the word list was better the more opportunities they had to test themselves. Regularly alternating periods of studying and testing forced them to engage and receive explicit feedback (“I know this word now, but it’s this other one I can never remember…“). Such self-awareness, or “meta memory”, is useful because it allows the learner to focus harder on the difficult items during a subsequent study sessions. The effect is clear: the more you test yourself, the better you remember what you have to learn.”

6. Regular testing improves long-term memory

“To get information into long-term memory, it is essential to study the material, then test yourself, rather than spend all your time studying.”

7. Spread out your training periods

“This is the golden rule: it is always better to spread out the training periods rather than cram them into a single run. The best way to ensure retention in the long term is with a series of study periods, interspersed with tests and spaced out at increasingly large intervals.”

8. 15 minutes of work every day of the week is better than two hours on a single day per week

“Decades of psychological research show that if you have a fixed amount of time to learn something, spacing out the lessons is a much more effective strategy than grouping them. The distribution of learning over several days has a tremendous effect: experiments show that you can multiply your memory by a factor of three when you review at regular intervals, rather than trying to learn everything at once. The rule is simple, and all musicians know it: 15 minutes of work every day of the week is better than two hours on a single day per week.”

9. Remove distractions from your environment

“Pay attention to attention. Attention is the gateway to learning: virtually no information will be memorised if it has not previously been amplified by attention and awareness. Teachers should become masters at capturing their students attention and directing it to what matters. This implies carefully getting rid of any source of distraction: overly illustrated textbooks and excessively decorated classrooms only distract children from their primary task and prevent them from concentrating.”

10. A little bit every day

“The most effective strategy is to space out learning: a little bit every day. Spacing out practice or study sessions allows information to be permanently imprinted to memory.”

11. Prioritise sleep

“Let students sleep. Sleep is an essential ingredient of our learning algorithm. Our brain benefits each time we sleep, even when we nap. So, let us make sure that our children sleep long and deep. To get the most out of our brain’s unconscious night work, studying a lesson or rereading a problem just before falling asleep can be a nifty trick. And because adolescents’ sleep cycle is shifted, let’s not wake them up too early!”

12. Practice the four pillars of learning

“All children would probably benefit from knowing the four pillars of learning: attention, active engagement, error feedback, and consolidation. Four slogans effectively summarise them: “Fully concentrate, “participate in class, “learn from your mistakes,“ and “practice every day, take advantage of every night.“