Grasp

Key idea 1

Our schools often aren’t designed with our brains in mind – and it comes at a cost.

Imagine you’re back in school. Where are you? Probably sitting at a desk, packed in with other students, watching a teacher lecture in front of a blackboard filled with confusing notes.

You’re not the only one with that image in mind. It’s a typical representation of education, and it’s nearly universal today. However, this system is far from aligning with the latest research on how the brain functions and how people learn most effectively. In many cases, it actually goes against these findings.

The main takeaway is that our schools often aren’t designed with our brains in mind – and we’re paying the price for it.

In recent decades, cognitive science has provided valuable insights into how to enhance our education systems. However, before exploring the specifics, it’s important to first clarify what we mean by “education.”

The author defines education as the process of delivering knowledge that is meaningful, contextual, and practical. In other words, it’s not just about memorizing facts from the teacher, but also understanding how that knowledge relates to the world and how to apply it when needed.

Consider this example: Imagine you’ve just completed an engineering course where you learned about pressure waves in pipes—at least in theory. You might be able to recall the information for an exam and score well. However, if you end up working on an oil rig and can’t prevent the pipes from bursting or repair them when they do, what was the real benefit of that knowledge?

Sadly, many schools overlook this larger context. Why is this the case? One reason could be that the education system is designed not only to educate but also to distinguish between “worthy” and “unworthy” students. The author refers to this process as “winnowing.”

The principle of winnowing is pervasive. IQ scores, standardized tests, and high-stakes exams serve as indicators of inherent ability, aimed at distinguishing the capable from the less so, even though there is ample evidence that they don’t accomplish this. These measures not only fail to fully represent intelligence but also promote inefficient learning. As a result, they unjustly filter out many potentially brilliant minds.

We bear a significant cost for this. How many potential Einsteins have been overlooked throughout history due to factors like geography, gender, class, or other influences that the system failed to consider? To tackle major issues such as climate change, we need to harness all the intellectual resources available. Therefore, it’s crucial that we get education right. However, we first need to challenge and unlearn a few myths.

Key idea 2

Learning doesn’t need to be a negative experience.

In fact, it’s more effective when it isn’t. As we work to unlearn certain concepts, let’s return to a time when we were just beginning to learn: childhood. Picture yourself as a young child playing at the beach. Everything is fresh and exciting. You dip your fingers in the water and notice it’s cold. You splash water onto the sand and discover that it clumps together. You spend too much time in the sun and realize it can sting.

As you absorb all this, you’re creating an understanding of how the world functions. You’re putting information into context, which helps shape how you engage with your surroundings in the future. In a sense, you’re quite similar to a scientist.

We tend to view education as something enforced from the top down, but learning is actually our innate condition. It’s what has enabled our survival as a species. Therefore, the first misconception we need to challenge is that learning must be a struggle.

The main takeaway is that learning doesn’t need to be a negative experience; in fact, it’s more effective when it isn’t.

However, if that’s true, why does the classroom frequently seem so far removed from the joy of playing and exploring at the beach?

One reason for this disconnect is that our education systems are rooted in outdated beliefs. For instance, there’s the notion that learning should resemble weightlifting: no pain, no gain. Much of contemporary teaching is also based on ideas from a century ago that prioritized methods that are easy to measure and standardize. While these approaches can be beneficial for creating large-scale systems, they don’t always effectively nurture our inherent love of learning.

Effective education must be more engaging than simply absorbing facts. The goal shouldn’t just be to learn physics, but to understand how to think through the principles of physics—allowing you to perceive and interact with the world in new ways. To achieve this, you need more than just basic information; context is essential. While memorizing the names of world capitals is helpful, it’s more beneficial to understand them within a wider context of events and people. Similarly, in engineering, it’s important to grasp how pressure waves function in oil pipes.

Schools can achieve this. Take, for example, “Course 2.007,” an engineering class at MIT. In this course, students learn theory but are also consistently encouraged to apply it through practical challenges. Rather than having a traditional final exam, they construct robots to compete in a semester-ending competition. This approach provides the benefits of an exam while avoiding the negative effects of winnowing.

Not everyone has the opportunity to attend MIT. However, there are many insights from cognitive science that can guide us in structuring effective learning experiences, similar to those at MIT, including several that you can implement on your own.

Key idea 3

Spacing out learning is not only beneficial; it’s essential—yet schools seldom consider it.

I understand it’s not exciting, but let’s leave the beach and return to school. It’s the night before your important exam, and you’re only just now settling down with your notes. Fueled by caffeine, you’re attempting to cram as much information as possible into your head.

If you went to school, you’ve likely experienced cramming for an exam. This is because most educational systems rely on tests to assess students. While cramming is not effective for long-term retention of information, it can be quite effective for short-term assessments.

This is yet another instance where the winnowing approach conflicts with how our brains learn most effectively. The field of learning and memory is extensive and filled with uncertainties, but there is a consensus that cramming is detrimental to learning. This relates to a process known as long-term potentiation, which involves the gradual strengthening of synapses. Research shows that when learning is spaced out, these synapses become strengthened even more effectively.

The main takeaway is that spacing learning is not just beneficial; it’s essential—yet schools often overlook this.

There are numerous ways to implement spaced learning effectively. For instance, schools could administer pre-tests to students ahead of their actual exams. This practice can be advantageous in the long term because it encourages students to recall information multiple times. Another method, called interleaving, involves mixing different subjects in study sessions, similar to alternating between golf clubs at the driving range. Both strategies have been proven to enhance retention.

Another strategy could be to embrace forgetting more often. Paradoxically, we tend to remember better when we allow ourselves to forget a bit. In fact, some theories propose that forgetting serves as a way to refine our memory; if we retained every piece of information, it would be difficult to navigate daily life. When we forget something and later recall it, we create a clearer pathway through the clutter of irrelevant associations, establishing a stronger and more enduring connection.

For instance, imagine you meet someone at a party and repeat their name in your mind. It’s likely that you’ll forget it soon after because that kind of repetition primarily aids in short-term recall. However, if you take some time to think about something else, allow yourself to forget the name, and then try to remember it later, it’s much more likely to stay in your memory.

These are just a few insights from cognitive science that education has yet to fully understand. To discover more, let’s return to the beach.

Key idea 4

Curiosity can significantly enhance the learning process and contribute to improved learning outcomes.

Now, imagine you’re a child again, back at the beach. You sink your feet into the sand and survey the shoreline, looking for something interesting. You notice a patch of gravel to your left, but there’s no reason to focus on that. Then, a glimmer in a nearby tide pool catches your attention. You approach and discover a stunning piece of coral. Instantly, your mind fills with questions: What is it? How was it formed? Why is it here?

We all understand what prompted you to examine the coral while ignoring the gravel: curiosity. It arises when the brain recognizes that there is something it doesn’t know but could learn.

Recent neuroscience has revealed that curiosity can significantly enhance long-term potentiation, thereby boosting learning. However, long before techniques like fMRIs made it possible to study this process in depth, many educators had already acknowledged the strength of curiosity and sought to leverage it to improve education.

The main takeaway is that curiosity can greatly enhance the learning process and play a significant role in improving learning outcomes.

For instance, the renowned American educator John Dewey dedicated himself to creating learning environments centered on students’ natural interests, even though his schools never gained widespread popularity. In contrast, the more well-known Montessori schools have recently found greater success following a similar approach. The typical image of a Montessori student features a young child engaging freely with vibrant sticks or blocks, illustrating how the concepts of learning and play intertwine, much like on that beach.

Montessori is just one of several experimental learning methods often referred to as discovery education. A shared belief among these approaches is that intrinsic motivation and imagination should guide the educational experience. In the early 20th century, the prominent psychologist Jean Piaget even contended that knowledge is actively constructed by individuals, rather than being passively received, as in tedious classroom lectures.

There is evidence that educational methods aligned with Piaget’s views are effective. For example, Montessori graduates have, in some studies, outperformed their counterparts in traditional schools. However, these approaches come with challenges and limitations. One major issue is that they are difficult to scale and replicate, primarily due to the need for significant resources and well-trained teachers. For education to be truly effective, it must be accessible to a wide audience—not just a fortunate few.

Perhaps even more crucially, the motivating effects of discovery and curiosity have their limits without at least some guidance to provide structure. This leads us back to the classroom.

Key idea 5

Structure and formal instruction are essential for effective large-scale learning.

Unfortunately, it’s time to leave the beach for good. However, you’ve gained valuable knowledge about the world that you’ll carry with you, such as how wet sand sticks together. Yet, you still don’t understand where sand originates or why it behaves that way. Perhaps you create a story in your mind—maybe it was made by tiny gnomes, for example.

Later, you find yourself back in the classroom during a science lecture, and the subject is—surprise—sand. The teacher discusses erosion, friction, and molecular structures, and suddenly, your time at the beach begins to click. So, it turns out it wasn’t gnomes after all.

The key point is that although discovery and imagination are powerful motivators, there are times when traditional instruction is necessary to connect your knowledge. When executed properly, structured teaching can enrich your understanding of the world, making dormant knowledge come alive rather than holding you back.

The main takeaway is that structure and formal instruction are essential for effective large-scale learning.

As you’ve observed, many of our current education systems unfortunately fail to meet this need. Too many schools prioritize what can be measured, quantified, and scaled. However, there are indications that more adaptable teaching methods can leverage insights from cognitive science while still maintaining the benefits and scalability of structured learning.

A fascinating example is “42,” a private, nonprofit coding school with locations in Paris and California. Rather than progressing through traditional classes and receiving grades, students advance only after they successfully complete projects of increasing difficulty—this approach is called mastery learning. Additionally, the school employs very few instructors, which means that students frequently have to teach one another.

MIT has achieved similar advancements through a system called technology-enabled active learning, or TEAL. In this approach, lectures, simulations, experiments, and collaborative work are combined into a unified learning experience. TEAL has been demonstrated to enhance academic performance and assist students in overcoming detrimental factors such as stereotype threat, where underprivileged groups often underperform due to negative thoughts about their own capabilities.

It appears that the dilemma between traditional, structured learning and discovery learning is a false one. Both approaches can coexist. How can this be achieved? By tapping into the motivational power of curiosity, creating curiosity gaps, utilizing technology to refine basic knowledge, and applying these methods on a larger scale within educational systems using more conventional techniques.

Key idea 6

The time is right for a new approach to education, but there are no easy solutions.

The beach is now a cherished childhood memory, as is the classroom. Now it’s time to focus. You’re in college—specifically, at MIT.

As the semester concludes in Course 2.007, the quality of the robots on display is impressive. Watching them knock down barriers, jump over obstacles, and fly through the air, it’s hard to believe that they were brought to life by a group of first-year students.

The course has successfully tackled the difficult challenge of getting students to not only memorize the principles they’ve learned but also to apply them. It achieved this by providing solid instruction while also allowing students the freedom to experiment and put their new knowledge into practice.

The main takeaway is that the time is right for a new approach to education, but there are no easy solutions.

Effective education must integrate both aspects of the Latin phrase “mens et manus,” which translates to “mind and hand.” Achieving this balance is challenging, but Course 2.007 demonstrates that it can be done.

It would undoubtedly be wonderful if we could simply share MIT classes globally. Unfortunately, that’s still not feasible, despite the significant advancements in technology that have greatly increased the opportunities to implement the school’s best practices.

However, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive for improvement. We exist in a time filled with turmoil. Why not take this opportunity to evaluate the legacy of our educational systems, discard outdated and unchallenged practices that are ineffective, and replace them with newer, evidence-based approaches?

While we consider these changes, it’s important to keep in mind that technology is not a cure-all. No technology exists in isolation from its social and economic environment. For example, in some underfunded schools, e-learning has been utilized to substitute for teachers who were let go due to budget reductions, which ultimately benefits no one.

There are additional dangers as well. While technology provides the opportunity to connect with more students, it also enables schools to track and observe them, classify them by their facial expressions, and document every written mark they make permanently. Is this what we truly desire?

Nonetheless, it is clear that change is necessary. We must all question the aspects of our educational system that have hindered progress. It’s time to enhance access, shift away from focusing on inherent differences, and create approaches that equip students with both knowledge and the skills to apply it.

We have a long journey ahead, but we possess the technology, and the timing is ideal. Seizing this opportunity is far better than allowing another generation of potential Einsteins to slip away.

Final Overview

The central message of this book is that our education systems are often misaligned with how our brains function best.

By incorporating modern scientific insights, we can make significant improvements using both new technologies and the natural abilities of our minds. For example, spaced learning and interleaving can greatly enhance retention. Additionally, experimental schools are discovering innovative ways to tap into curiosity and our inherent passion for learning.

Practical Tip:

To improve memory, try “forgetting” first.

When you want to remember something important, start by reviewing it, then shift your focus to something else. After some time has passed, revisit the information. By recalling it after a break, you’ll strengthen how deeply it’s encoded in your memory.