Making It Stick: Using Brain Science to Help Students Succeed

Making It Stick: Using
Brain Science to Help
Students Succeed
Spring Educators Conference
Bangkok
April 1- 4, 2016
By Sylvie Thimonier-Esrawee and Robert Ogle
American School of Doha

My key words are:
1. Brain works naturally at the shallowest level of processing
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2. Practical exercise – Learn some kiswahili!
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3. Passive versus active learning
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4. Making connections: sounds and structures
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5. Making connections: using visual & cultural clues
Visuals replace the need for words and give us a taste of the culture
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6. Making connections: mnemonics – let’s make one!
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7. The importance of testing and using a variety of methods
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8. Generation – see appendix 2
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9. Elaboration
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10. Calibration
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11. Reflection - See appendix 1
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12. Growth mindset
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13. The forgetting curve & spaced repetition
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14. Summary & Feedback forms
Appendix 1:
Questions for reflection:
A. What do you know / don't know / need to know?
1. What do you master / do very well?
2. What do you need to work on? More specifically
(You may want to choose from the list)
4. What did you learn from the correction process?
3 things you have changed - (Write 3 concrete examples)
For example:
- I have learned that the word “très” is spelled with accent grave…
- I have learned that after “beaucoup” there is “de” or “d’” but never “des”
5. Set up to 3 goals for the next writing
For example:
- I keep on writing the word “très” incorrectly and will pay attention to writing it
properly in the next writing.
- I will pay attention to the use of apostrophes
- I will use more connectors/conjunctions…
6. Did you meet your previous goal? Why / Why not?
B. How did you study for this “test”?
1. What do you think worked well?
2. What do you think did not go well?
3. Did you…
□ quiz yourself and checked your answers to see what you know / don't know /
need to know?
□ work on the concepts or vocabulary words that you didn’t know?
□ make flashcards?
□ try to make cues to remember the words / grammar concepts you felt were
difficult for you?
□ associate the vocabulary / grammar (phrases) with a visual?
□ put the vocabulary words / grammar in context?
□ review the vocabulary words / grammar concepts that you knew before, to see if
you still knew them?
□ paraphrase / make your own “cheat sheet” (synthesize)?
□ teach others?
□ What ACTIONS are you going to take?