Low-Tech Learning: Five Advantages

??????????? In this Psychology Today article, Jared Cooney Horvath (University of Melbourne) says that in recent decades, neuroscience (his field) has been consolidating research on how the human brain learns. These insights have direct bearing on the choices schools make on how much to use digital tools:

??????????? ? Learning requires empathy. Despite impressive gains, artificial intelligence hasn’t been able to match human counselors in one-on-one therapy sessions. Why? “Because the operative word in therapeutic relationship is relationship,” says Horvath. “Decades of research consistently show that the relationship between therapist and patient is far and away the greatest predictor of therapeutic success, with some data suggesting that 80 percent of the outcome is attributable to a strong empathetic relationship.”

??????????? The same is true of learning. An empathetic student-teacher relationship delivers 2.5 times the instructional gain compared to individual tutoring, says John Hattie in his meta-analysis. The combination of caring and psychological safety between teacher and student releases oxytocin, which is rocket fuel for learning. That chemistry can’t exist with a chatbot or in remote instruction. Could this be why online courses have such a high dropout rate: 85 percent of students who are taking them for free, 50 percent of those paying tuition? “Without empathy,” says Horvath, “individuals become passive receivers of information with little impetus to push through the inevitable struggles encountered along the learning process.”

??????????? ? Creativity relies on knowledge and skills. To unleash critical thinking and creativity, says Horvath, we need to encode information and capabilities in long-term memory. Learning to play the guitar, for example, requires countless hours practicing finger placement and chords and building fluency before it’s possible to create original music.

??????????? ? Multitasking degrades learning. When using a computer for homework, most students can’t go for more than six minutes before checking social media, messaging, and other digital distractions. Using a laptop during class, 38 minutes of every hour is typically spent off-task. “In order to effectively learn while using a computer,” says Horvath, “people must expend an incredible amount of cognitive effort battling impulses that they’ve spent years honing, a battle they lose more often than not.” Neuroscientists have found that jumping quickly among tasks has three significant costs for learners:

-?? Attentional blink – With each shift of focus, the brain stops processing all external information for 0.15 seconds.

-?? Accuracy – With each shift among tasks, general performance suffers.

-?? Memory – When multitasking, memories are stored in a part of the brain where they are less accessible in the future.

In short, says Horvath, “multitasking is one of the worst things human beings can do for learning and memory. That may be why today’s students are doing poorly on tests of information, composition, and the application of higher-order thinking skills.” It explains Sweden’s decision to urge teachers to have students read physical textbooks and hand-write on paper, while progressively reducing the use of digital tools.

??????????? ? Print is mostly better than digital. As information enters long-term memory, the hippocampus instantly encodes its three-dimensional orientation. For example, we can often remember that something happened on the bottom of a right-hand page about half-way through a book. “Print ensures that material is in an unchanging and everlasting three-dimensional location,” says Horvath. “This is why, when it comes to reading comprehension and retention, hard copy always beats digital.”

??????????? In some situations, digital is better, including when searching for information in a text, and with learners who have physical or neurological impairments that require text interactivity.

??????????? ? Flashcard practice really works. Memories fade quickly and can also be distorted as we try to recall them. One of the most efficient and effective ways to commit important information to long-term memory is using flashcards with the prompt on one side and the answer on the other. Testing ourselves using flashcards strengthens memories. “The more we internally access or recall a memory,” says Horvath, “the deeper, more durable, and more accessible that memory becomes in the future.” Seeing the correct answer immediately after trying to recall it is also helpful in retaining the memory accurately. Research has repeatedly found that retrieval practice is far more effective than re-reading or re-viewing.

??????????? Horvath recommends grouping flashcards in thematic or shared-characteristic groups and continuing to use retrieval practice on each group, even with cards we recall accurately. This retains the conceptual links between the memory items.

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?“How the Brain Learns Best” by Jared Cooney Horvath in Psychology Today, July/August 2024 (Vol. 57, #4, pp. 34-39), summarized in Marshall Memo 1043