Learning Curves

Some learning curves are short; others, long. The length of a learning curve depends upon the difficulty of the material, the ability of the student, and the way the material is presented to the student. Teaching is more effective when a learning curve is short. If learning takes too long, discouragement rears its ugly head and interferes. Besides, both teacher and student tend to lose motivation when an experience drags on without success. Efficient teaching uses several principles to keep learning curves short.

One principle of efficient teaching involves preparing the student, much as the farmer prepares soil for the seed. Hard, infertile, weedy soil won't grow much. If the soil is fertile, weed-free, and soft, however, the seeds will sprout and produce well. Students who already know 90% or more of the material presented will learn the most. Students who are familiar with less of the material will find it very difficult to retain the information because they don't have enough connections to it already in mind. For example, students who don't reliably recognize the lower case letters aren't ready to read words. They need more work with the alphabet before efficient reading instruction is possible. Students who can't add accurately aren't ready to learn multiplication. Similarly, students who can't sound out simple words have great difficulty remembering science and social studies vocabulary. Modern curricula move very fast. Students who can learn at a rapid pace achieve high levels very quickly, but students who fall behind need help fast before discouragement sets in. Summer vacation is an excellent time for some daily practice and/or tutoring in a weak area. Students can "catch up" then because their classes aren't moving ahead.

Another principle of efficient teaching is to take the shortest route without allowing the student to get lost in bad habit formation. Those of us who often get lost on the highway know well that the farther you go in the wrong direction, the longer it takes to come back. It takes much more time and effort for a student to break a bad habit than it does to learn a subject correctly from the beginning. Strong habits of impulsive responding without attention to meaning, of reading or spelling words visually with no sounding out, of not paying attention to the sequence of letters in a word, of writing letters from the bottom up or reversing b's and d's, of subtracting a smaller top number from a larger bottom number without borrowing, of reading without visualization, of ignoring test dates and not studying, all hamper the progress of students. It's many times easier to prevent the formation of such habits than it is to correct them.

Sufficient guidance produces correct practice, and correct practice produces good habits. Students who are beginning a new subject need to have many guided learning experiences before they are ready to practice on their own. For example, little children need to trace upper and lower case letters numerous times before writing them. They must to know where to start each letter and how to place it on the line. Older students need look-alike words, ideas, or math processes to be compared and contrasted to prevent confusion. They need explanations, visual representations, demonstrations, diagrams, and text reading to develop understanding and familiarity. All students who are just beginning to learn a new subject, no matter how old they are, start very slowly and take tiny baby steps at first. Later on, the student's learning pace accelerates, but a fast pace at the beginning leaves the student frustrated, and makes the learning curve long.

When students begin practicing on their own, they need immediate and accurate feedback about the rightness and wrongness of their answers. One way to provide fast feedback is to practice the material orally. Parents can provide oral practice by having children read their spelling lists or math facts to each other every day. This can be done in a car pool, or in the kitchen while a parent is listening. Teachers can do fast oral practice by having the students answer in turn going up and down the rows until all the students can answer all the questions correctly. This can be done with counting, the alphabet, the continents, capital cities, spelling words, math facts, or sets of short answer questions from religion, science, or social studies. Oral practice is an excellent way to introduce a lesson or prepare for a quiz. Listening and answering orally also helps students to associate language with visualization of meaning, a vitally important learning process.

Another effective method of providing practice with instant feedback is to have students fold a piece of paper over three times to make eight sections and number the sections. Write eight problems on the board and have each student do all the problems. Then walk around the classroom helping those who haven't yet learned the material. Give all the answers at the end so that students can correct their own papers. Having every student do every problem gives more and better practice than having a few students at a time doing the problems at the board. A problem can seem easy when someone else does it, but suddenly become difficult when a student tries working independently. Parents can give extra practice at home by making up additional problems of the same type that the student has missed until the student obtains several correct answers.

Prepared students who have plenty of practice and fast feedback experience short learning curves, and have more fun in school. Their parents and teachers are happier too.

Readers, please share your thoughts and experiences with me. The comments of many people make this column vibrant and relevant. Contact me at: newskill7@msn.com or call me at: 703-691-0191 (home), or 703-501-9013 (cell). I'm eager to hear from you.

Mary Sue Laing, M.Ed.
Resource Teacher, St. Ambrose School

by Mary Sue Laing, M. Ed., New Skill, Inc. Academic Tutor