Stanislas Dehaene: How we learn.
(Born 1965)
The following excerpts about learning are from Stanislas Dehaene's book "How We Learn: Why Brains Learn Better Than Any Machine . . . for Now." 2020.
Our understanding of the learning process has undergone dramatic changes in recent years, thanks to advances in cognitive psychology, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and education sciences. We now possess much more detailed knowledge about how our brain learns. This knowledge is not self-evident, and most of our preconceived ideas about learning need to be rescinded. The following summary from Dehaene's book gives an overview of these changes, and concludes with 13 rules for optimizing the learning process. I have slightly edited the original text in order to make it shorter and more readable.
Babies are not blank slates: as early as the first year of life, they possess vast knowledge of objects, numbers, probabilities, space, and people.
The child’s brain is not a sponge that obediently absorbs the structure of its environment. Remember Felipe, the blind and tetraplegic Brazilian storyteller, or Nicholas Saunderson, the blind mathematician who held Newton’s chair: such cases show us that sensory inputs can be disrupted or absent without ruining a child’s grasp of abstract ideas.
The brain is not just a network of malleable neurons that waits to be shaped by its inputs: all the large fiber bundles are present at birth, and brain plasticity, however indispensable, typically refines only the last millimeters of our connections.
Learning does not occur passively through simple exposure to data or lectures: on the contrary, cognitive psychology and brain imaging show us that children are budding scientists, constantly generating new hypotheses, and that the brain is an ever-alert organ that learns by testing the models it projects onto the outside world.
Errors are not the mark of bad students: making mistakes is an integral part of learning, because our brain can adjust its models only when it discovers a discrepancy between what it envisioned and reality.
Sleep is not just a period of rest: it is an integral part of our learning algorithm, a privileged period during which our brain plays its models in a loop and enhances the experience of the day by a factor of ten to one hundred.
Today’s learning machines are nowhere close to surpassing the human brain: our brains remain, for the moment at least, the fastest, most effective, and most energy efficient of all information processing devices. A true probabilistic machine, it successfully extracts the maximum amount of information from each moment of the day and transforms it at night into abstract and general knowledge, in a way that we do not yet know how to reproduce in computers.
Do not underestimate children. At birth, infants possess a rich set of core skills and knowledge. Object concepts, number sense, a knack for languages, knowledge of people and their intentions . . . so many brain modules are already present in young children, and these foundational skills will later be recycled in physics, mathematics, language, and philosophy classes. Let us take advantage of children’s early intuitions: each word and symbol that they learn, however abstract, must connect to prior knowledge. This connection is what will give them meaning.
Take advantage of the brain’s sensitive periods. In the first years of life, billions of synapses are created and destroyed every day. This effervescent activity makes the child’s brain particularly receptive, especially for language learning. We should expose children to a second language as early as possible. We should also bear in mind that plasticity extends at least until adolescence. During this entire period, foreign language immersion can transform the brain.
Enrich the environment. Learning wise, the child’s brain is the most powerful of supercomputers. We should respect it by providing it with the right data at an early age: word or construction games, stories, puzzles. . . . Let’s not hesitate to hold serious talks with our children, to answer their questions, even the most difficult, using an elaborate vocabulary, and to explain to them what we understand of the world. By giving our little ones an enriched environment, particularly regarding languages, we maximize their brain growth and prolong their juvenile plasticity.
Rescind the idea that all children are different. The idea that each of us has a distinct learning style is a myth. Brain imaging shows that we all rely on very similar brain circuits and learning rules. The brain circuits for reading and mathematics are the same in each of us, give or take a few millimeters—even in blind children. We all face similar hurdles in learning, and the same teaching methods can surmount them. Individual differences, when they exist, lie more in children’s extant knowledge, motivation, and the rate at which they learn. Let’s carefully determine each child’s current level in order to select the most relevant problems— but above all, let’s ensure that all children acquire the fundamentals of language, literacy, and mathematics that everyone needs.
Pay attention to attention. Attention is the gateway to learning: virtually no information will be memorized if it has not previously been amplified by attention and awareness. Teachers should become masters at capturing their students’ attention and directing it to what matters. This implies carefully getting rid of any source of distraction: overly illustrated textbooks and excessively decorated classrooms only distract children from their primary task and prevent them from concentrating.
Keep children active, curious, engaged, and autonomous. Passive students do not learn much. Make them more active. Engage their intelligence so that their minds sparkle with curiosity and constantly generate new hypotheses. But do not expect them to discover everything on their own: guide them through a structured curriculum.
Make every school day enjoyable. Reward circuits are essential modulators of brain plasticity. Activate them by rewarding every effort and making every hour of class fun. No child is insensitive to material rewards—but their social brains respond equally to smiles and encouragement. The feeling of being appreciated and the awareness of one’s own progress are rewards in and of themselves. Conversely, do away with the anxiety and stress that prevent learning—especially in mathematics.
Encourage efforts. A pleasurable school experience is not synonymous with “effortless.” On the contrary, the most interesting things to learn—reading, math, or playing an instrument—require years of practice. The belief that everything comes easy can lead children to think that they are dunces if they do not succeed. Explain to them that all students must try hard and that, when they do, everyone makes progress. Adopt a growth mindset, not a fixed mindset.
Help students deepen their thinking. The deeper our brain processes information, the better we can remember. Never be content with superficial learning; always aim for deeper understanding. And remember Henry Roediger’s words: “Making learning conditions more difficult, thus requiring students to engage more cognitive effort, often leads to enhanced retention.”
Set clear learning objectives. Students learn best when the purpose of learning is clearly stated to them and when they can see that everything at their disposal converges toward that purpose. Clearly explain what is expected of them, and stay focused on that goal.
Accept and correct mistakes. To update their mental models, our brain areas must exchange error messages. Error is therefore the very condition of learning. Let us not punish errors, but correct them quickly, by giving children detailed but stress-free feedback. According to the Education Endowment Foundation’s synthesis, the quality of the feedback that teachers provide to their students is the most effective lever for academic progress.
Practice regularly. One-shot learning is not enough— children need to consolidate what they have learned to render it automatic, unconscious, and reflexive. Such routinization frees up our prefrontal and parietal circuits, allowing them to attend to other activities. The most effective strategy is to space out learning: a little bit every day. Spacing out practice or study sessions allows information to be permanently imprinted to memory.
Let students sleep. Sleep is an essential ingredient of our learning algorithm. Our brain benefits each time we sleep, even when we nap. So, let us make sure that our children sleep long and deep. To get the most out of our brain’s unconscious night work, studying a lesson or rereading a problem just before falling asleep can be a nifty trick. And because adolescents’ sleep cycle is shifted, let’s not wake them up too early!