Bringing the Science of Learning to Life
Author: Dr. Shane Saeed
In the Fall of 2019, twelve K-12 educators from diverse content areas came together to learn more about the Science of Learning. We learned about science of learning power tools such as retrieval, spacing, interleaving, metacognition, feedback, and understanding memory. Little did we know this would start a grassroots instructional shift within St Vrain Valley School District that has positively impacted hundreds of educators and students.
Where It All Started
The 12 original members of the Science of Learning Steering Committee showed up at the St Vrain Innovation Center not quite knowing what we had signed up for. We learned that we would be doing a book study of the newly published book Powerful Teaching by Dr. Pooja Agarwal and Patrice Bain and learn more about research-backed practices to help students retain and transfer their learning. Additionally, we would be putting the retrieval strategies we were learning about into practice within our classrooms to see if there was an impact on student outcomes. As we came together each month to learn together and shared our experiences using the strategies in the classroom we found that these strategies for learning were making a difference with our students: they were remembering more of the learned content and able to apply it to new tasks!
In December, we were fortunate enough to have Patrice Bain come and speak at the first ever Powerful Teaching Symposium. There was traction and interest gaining in this work when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Even with the changes we were all experiencing due to the pandemic, we found there was still interest in learning about the Science of Learning from our teachers. The facilitation team decided this work was important to carry forward and that is when the Science of Learning Collaborative officially formed.
Collaborative vs Professional Development
The structure of our collaborative has shifted with the needs of our teachers over the years and differs from traditional professional development. In traditional professional development there are facilitators who bestow new information or knowledge to participants who, in turn, complete assignments to showcase their understanding. It is often unknown whether this new information is infused into the teacher’s practice.
In a collaborative structure the focus shifts to becoming a community of learners. For our Science of Learning Collaborative, we use a hybrid structure having a rotation of monthly two hour in-person and online meetings which allows for flexibility around conference schedules, testing, and holidays. Next, we don’t assign homework. Instead, it is expected that strategies and practices learned in the collaborative and independent study are implemented into their classrooms so it can be discussed at the next meeting in small collaborative groups. This work flow allows teachers the space to try new things and meaningfully reflect on them with guidance from peers and facilitators. Finally, we allow teachers to be a part of the collaborative for as many years as they would like. If one year they focused on implementing retrieval practices, the next year they might want to focus on metacognitive strategies. This means we always have a mix of new members and returning members that we differentiate for. In this year’s group we have 71 total participants with 26 returning members and 45 new members. To accommodate for this, each month’s learning content is curated based on participant feedback from the previous session which means the content is different every year!
The Science of Learning Impact
Teachers who have engaged in the collaborative report feeling more effective planning instruction. They have also reported their students feeling confident in class and being able to drive their own learning. We asked our district’s statistician to look at the average growth via i-Ready end of year data for the teachers who were part of our collaborative based on the curricular area they were focusing on implementing these practices. The result? An average of 144% typical growth across the teachers’ focus areas. Qualitatively, stakeholders feel positive about these practices and quantitatively, results show a strong impact on academic performance.
Looking to the Future
We know how important this work is, especially now in the ever-changing education environment. At the end of the day technology and curriculums are tools for learning, but the true power is in the hands-on practice of teachers. The principles of strong pedagogical instruction have withstood the test of time. Understanding how the brain learns and being able to support teachers around crafting lessons to support that is of the utmost importance. My co-facilitators and myself look forward to seeing how the Science of Learning Collaborative will continue to grow and the educators and students it will impact for the better.
