Integrating Types of Learning

Integrating Types of Learning- The reasoning behind integrating types of learning is that a well developed and successful lesson must revolve around many different types of learning as opposed to just one type of learning.

A great example used in How People Learn II: Learners, Contexts, and Cultures is how combining problem solving and collaborative learning would lead to learning in the following ways:

  1. Observation

  2. Feedback

  3. Facts

  4. Rules

  5. Models

A specific learning technique mentioned in this section of How People Learn II: Learners, Contexts, and Cultures is using spaced repetition which is when a student learns an initial fact, then returns a few days later to refresh their memory about the fact, then lets a slightly longer period of time pass before again returning to study the fact and finally lets an even longer amount of time go by before studying the same fact again. This keeps the student ahead of the forgetting curve because just as soon as their mind is about to let the fact go, the student reviews it and it becomes stuck in their memory again.

If the student does spaced repetition enough times they will remember the initial lesson. This technique is proven much more effective than simply trying to remember something in one sitting.

Another learning technique mentioned in this section of How People Learn II: Learners, Contexts, and Cultures is using the practice of retrieval of information instead of just repeating the information again to try and remember it. Basically, there are three ways to retrieve a memory recognition, free recall and cued recall.


In summary, if you were to combine the two learning techniques mentioned above, spaced repetition and retrieval of information, it would be an example of integrating types of learning and this type of lesson would yield much more effective and successful results for students who participated in the lesson. In contrast, if the instructor were to assign just one type of lesson for example only asking the students to try and remember the entire lesson during one period of class then the student learning outcomes would be much lower because the instructor had not used the concept of integrating types of learning.