Our brains are wired to forget, but there are research-backed strategies you can use to make your teaching stick! 🧵 1/12 #EduSky

We often think of memories as books in a library, filed away/accessed when needed. But they’re actually more like spiderwebs, strands of recollection distributed across millions of connected neurons. 🕸️ 2/12

When we learn something new, the material is encoded across these neural networks, converting the experience into a memory. 3/12

Psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus found that without any reinforcement or connections to prior knowledge, information is quickly forgotten—roughly 56% in one hour, 66% after a day, and 75% after six days. So what can be done to preserve the hard work of teaching? 4/12

Two scientifically based ways to help students retain learning: making as many connections as possible—typically to other concepts, thus widening the “spiderweb” of neural connections—but also by accessing the memory repeatedly over time. 5/12

💬 Peer-to-peer Explanations When students explain what they’ve learned to peers, fading memories are reactivated, strengthened, and consolidated. This strategy not only increases retention but also encourages active learning. 7/12

⭐ The Spacing Effect Instead of covering a topic then moving on, revisit key ideas throughout the year. Research shows students perform better academically when given multiple, spaced opportunities to review learned material. 8/12

📝 Frequent Practice Tests Giving frequent, low-stakes practice tests can boost long-term retention and help reduce stress, which often impairs memory performance. These can even be ungraded—a pop quiz at the start of a lesson or a trivia quiz on Kahoot, for example. 9/12