From the first days of school, we generally accept that some people learn faster than others – but we actually learn at very similar rates with the same opportunities, according to a new study.
The researchers studied 1.3 million “student interactions” with various learning software tools used by 6,946 students, from elementary school to college students. The data collected covers a variety of topics and multiple formats, including online courses and educational games.
New research has revealed that students’ starting point and opportunities to apply what they learn have the greatest impact on their academic performance, more than any learning speed.
“The data show that differences in achievement stem from differences in learning opportunities and that better access to such opportunities can help bridge those gaps,” said Ken Koediger, a cognitive psychologist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. Technologies can provide favorable educational conditions that facilitate the learning of something new, such as a second language or a scientific or mathematical concept.
The researchers sought answers to three questions: How much practice does it take to learn something? How does initial performance differ among students? How different are the students’ learning rates?
On average, students need seven opportunities to learn, but this varies from individual to individual. The new study shows that this difference is due to where students start rather than their ability to learn faster.
The ability to actively participate in learning experiences is also important, the researchers say. The educational tools included in the study encouraged engagement and provided immediate feedback to students, which was helpful.
“We’ve all seen situations where someone gets their learning outcomes ahead of their classmates – one student gets an A in algebra and another gets a C,” said said Koedger. But what we don’t usually follow is where they started. . Our results are consistent with the fact that people end up in different places, but calculating where students start can tell us a lot about where they end up.”
The team hypothesizes that our brains can follow different ‘mental paths’ to learn something, which means our learning speed + isn’t that different – meaning we’ll all get to the same point accordingly with our experience and knowledge.
The study supports this: If there are differences in the rate of learning, these differences are more pronounced in languages that require a lot of memorization. Previous studies have suggested a personalized approach, tracking different types of mental activity while learning the same information.
All this helps in discovering the best ways to impart knowledge and prepare training courses. Many factors play a role when it comes to learning, including how we adapt to our mistakes, but the researchers behind the latest study want to highlight that we are all capable of learning.
The research was published in PNAS.
Source: ScienceAlert
Source: Arabic RT
