Hosted by: Kellie Ferguson

In Part 2 of How People Learn, we will take a closer look at some of the teaching techniques instructors can focus on to help foster deeper learning within their classroom. download this episodes' infographic Hi this is Kellie Ferguson, Instructional Designer with the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning with another episode of the Cerebro Series.  Today we'll be talking about strategies to help students learn and retain new information- the second episode in a two-part series on How People Learn.  

Now that we have a more basic understanding of the factors that help people learn, lets discuss some tips for fostering deeper learning within your classroom. We’ll talk about ways to develop metacognition, create variety in instruction, and establish a safe and comfortable social learning environment for students.  

Remember in Part 1 of this episode, when I talked about the importance of making thinking visible in the classroom? This was called metacognition, and using metacognitive activities in your classroom can help bolster the learning process. Using metacognition essentially means that you have students reflect on their learning over the course of the class. This strategy helps guide students to think about how they are learning, the way they learn, and what information they are retaining—all helpful for developing deeper understanding of new concepts.  

Some strategies for accomplishing metacognition in your class are:  

Using reflective questions during lectures to guide students towards thinking about how they are learning and absorbing new information. For example, in the middle of your lecture, you might ask students to reflect on what they knew about this topic before the lecture. At the end, you might ask them to consider what they know about it now and what they still think they might need to know to really understand the topic.  

Another strategy is asking students to reflect on high stakes assignments. An example of this would be after an exam has been graded and passed back, ask students to write about how they studied for the exam, what was easy/difficult, and how they plan to improve for the future.   Practice active learning activities that engage students directly with the material. Active learning can help build metacognition if you ask students to do an activity and reflect on what they are doing and why. For instance, after a lecture, ask students to think about the information you covered and consider a point that confused them, pair up with another student, and share their questions and try to help clear up any confusion. Not only are students actively engaging with the materials in this activity, but they are also thinking about the information they are learning as you teach.   

Another method for helping students learn and retain information in your class is to mix up your teaching. So, while you are teaching, try not to rely on just one method for delivering information. Instead, create variety in your instruction. Not only does variety engage students by keeping things new and interesting, but it allows an opportunity to develop the different processes that enhance learning. An example of combining elements in your class is to structure a lesson as an interactive lecture. You might lecture for 10 minutes, have students interact with the material in some way, and lecture again. Not only does this break up lecture materials, but it also gives students the chance to think about the materials presented in different ways. And it can even give an opportunity for some metacognitive activities or social learning! 

As you complete classroom activities, try to think about places where you can give students direct feedback in the work. Try practicing activities where students receive applicable feedback on their work from you. Direct feedback can actually help with a number of learning processes.