Teaching and Learning
The Science of Learning The first day of Term 2 saw the Barker community inspired by the words and wisdom of neuroscientist, educator, and author Dr Jared Cooney Horvath.
In presentations that ran across the day Jared integrated the science of learning with relevant practical advice, capturing each of the different audiences of staff, students and parents.
Staff Professional Learning - The Foundations of Learning and the Learning Trajectory. In two highly engaging presentations, Jared delivered the latest educationally relevant brain and behavioural research on which to apply learning principles for integration into daily practice. What became evident, was that the science of learning can be fascinating and understanding how the brain works is highly beneficial to teaching. Some key takeaways from the presentation were: • Transfer of knowledge is not automatic. Facts always precede skills. Knowledge needs to be learnt in different contexts and then tweaked when placed in new situations.
12 • The Barker • Issue 131 • Winter 2021
• Learning follows a trajectory from surface learning to deeper learning to the ability to transfer and adapt learning to novel setting. » For learning to move from surface to deep, knowledge needs to be experienced THREE times with SLEEP in between to allow it to allow memories to form. » Repetition, exposure to knowledge in different contexts and active retrieval are important to making learning long term. The science of learning offers the why. We now look forward to an ongoing investigation of this research through our 2021 professional learning program, exploring how to apply these concepts in our own context with a particular focus on embedding strategies that improve memory and retrieval.
