Learning Notes

1) Making Things Hard on Yourself, But in a Good Way

a) Learning versus Performance
i) Performance is what we can observe and measure during instruction or training
ii) Learning is change in knowledge or understanding that is something we must try to
infer
iii) Learning without performance
(1) Considerable learning could happen across a period when no change was apparent
in performance
(2) Animals with periods of free exploration of a maze seemed uninterested. Reward
produced considerable learning.
iv) Performance without learning
(1) Improvements in performance across practice or training sessions can occur
without significant learning
v) Storage Strength VS Retrieval Strength
(1) Storage strength reflects how entrenched a memory representation is with related
knowledge and skills
(2) Retrieval strength reflects the current accessibility of that representation and is
heavily influenced by factors such as situational cues
(3) CONDITIONS THAT MOST RAPIDLY INCREASE RETRIEVAL
STRENGTH DIFFER FROM THE CONDITIONS THAT MAXIMIZE THE
GAIN OF STORAGE STRENGTH
b) Desirable Difficulties to Enhance Learning and Instruction

i) Desirable difficulties are desirable because they trigger encoding and retrieval
processes that support learning, comprehension, and remembering.
ii) Varying the Conditions of Practice
(1) Instructions under conditions that are constrained and predictable, learning tends
to become contextualized. Learning does not support later performance.
(2) Variation increases performance
c) Spacing Study or Practice Sessions
i) Mass practice supports short-term performance. Effective for rapid gains in learning.
ii) Spacing practice supports long-term performance
d) Interleaving VS Blocking Instruction on Separate To-Be-Learned Tasks
i) Under random testing conditions, participants who had practiced under interleaved
conditions performed far better than the blocked-practiced participants.
ii) Under blocked testing conditions, performance was essentially the same for both
groups
iii) If required to do A, then B, then C, and then A again, for example, the memory for
how to do A must be reloaded a second time, whereas doing A and then A again does
not involve the same kind of reloading.
e) Generation Effects and Using Tests as Learning Events
i) Any time that a learner looks up an answer that he could have generated himself, he is
robbing himself of a powerful learning opportunity.
ii) Retrieval is a powerful memory modifier
iii) Testing as a learning event is underappreciated since it is typically viewed as a
vehicle of assessment, not learning

2) Using Testing to Improve Learning and Memory

a) Rereading was NO MORE EFFECTIVE in improving learning than a single, initial
reading
b) Repeated retrieval is the key to long-term retention
c) Test Enhanced Learning
i) Those who were tested on material were better able to recall things
d) The Importance of Feedback
i) Delaying feedback a bit after a question is more effective than giving it immediately
e) Does Testing Work in the Classroom?
i) Students could not memorize answers but had to know the whole fact
f) Practical Implications for How to Study
i) Strategies
(1) Preview look at headings and figures to see what topics will be covered
(2) Question, Read make key terms and questions if there are none explicitly stated
(3) Reflect Convert headings into questions that will be answered
(4) Recite, Review Read carefully and review the key terms
ii) Read over your notes after class
iii) Test yourself on key terms and definitions