Learning science really works!

Forgetting is a path to remembering. 🧠💪

Last week I posted about my recent CPLEE project: building a tech-infused, learning science-informed approach to passing a licensing exam. Today let’s talk about some of the learning science I used and how it can help you!

We’ve all learned something and then immediately forgotten it. The name of the person you just met? Fading a minute into your conversation with them. Gone by the time you’re saying goodbye.

Our brains are great at remembering AND forgetting. Luckily we can hack what we know about forgetting to aid remembering!

Spaced repetition means repetition of things you want to remember + space (i.e. time) in between. Each repetition strengthens your memory as it starts to fade, resulting in stronger memory. (Google “Ebbinghaus forgetting curve” to learn more on this.)

So repetition aids memory. Great. How do you implement this?

To remember the name of the person you just met, work it into your conversation. Repetition + space in between = memory. It’s much easier to remember a name if you say it a few times. (Don’t just ask their name again at the end. You need to remember and say it during the conversation for this to work.)

You can use the same hack to learn new information. I used the open-source software Anki (ankiweb.net) to build a spaced repetition system for this project. Anki prioritizes flashcards based on your difficulty remembering them. Cards that are new and hard to remember are repeated quickly. As they become easier, the space between repetitions lengthens to sustain long-term memory.

Part of the magic was writing good flashcards, of course. Splitting the key learnings into its component parts, and writing cards that test each component. Tagging related content to aid review sessions. Using highlighting and formatting to improve retention. The science doesn’t work if the learning design is bad.

So it was a lot of work with two key results: 1) a comprehensive and effective learning system, obvs, and 2) a feeling of pre-test confidence from being able to easily remember all the information.

Plus a big win: after they passed, the person expressed they’d felt a bit worried during the exam. Why? It felt too easy!