June 4, 2024
Effective learning is a complex process that can be enhanced by integrating new information with existing knowledge, engaging multiple senses, and refining skills through constructive feedback. By understanding and utilizing these components, educators can create environments that foster deep and lasting learning experiences for students. Below, we dive deeper into each one of these components.
Role of Working Memory and Prolonged Practice: Effective learning occurs when the working memory actively processes and integrates new information with existing knowledge. This process involves retrieving previously memorized information, combining it with new data, analyzing it, reasoning through it, and ultimately arriving at a solution to a given problem (Baddeley, 1992). Working memory serves as a mental workspace where complex thought processes are managed and executed, making it crucial for problem-solving and critical thinking. Furthermore, prolonged practice in a dynamic environment helps reinforce these cognitive processes, enabling learners to develop and hone their skills over time.
Impact of Multi-Sensory Engagement: Engaging multiple senses in the learning process enhances cognitive processing by providing richer sensory input, which the brain can use to form more detailed and interconnected memory traces. This multi-sensory engagement can trigger the brain to access deeper layers of stored knowledge, leading to a more profound and enduring learning experience (Shams & Seitz, 2008). For example, when students are required to present their work using visual aids and engage in debates, they not only process information visually and verbally but also critically analyze and respond to different viewpoints. This combination of presentation and debate leverages the brain's natural ability to integrate and synthesize information from various sensory inputs, thereby improving its comprehension and retention of the material (Mayer, 2009).
Importance of Feedback in Learning: In his book, Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman suggests that reliable intuition is not a spontaneous gift but rather a skill developed through practice and feedback. Practicing repeatedly with multiple senses engaged is one pillar of learning and developing professional intuition. The complementary aspect of prolonged practice is receiving immediate and consistent feedback. Such feedback helps students refine their intuitive judgments, correct errors, and improve their responses over time. By continuously practicing and receiving feedback, learners can develop a more accurate and reliable intuition, which is essential for effective decision-making and problem-solving.
These components have been actively used in the Case Study method, used in business schools. Through the course of a case study, students are required to gather all the historical information and analyze them. Then they are put in an environment, where they have to present their results and engage in debates, while receivng constructive feedback from theor instructor. Integrating these components in the Case Study Method has made it a useful and practical method to teach concepts and theories. In our article Case Study Method in Business Education: Instructor is the Key, we dive deeper into the case study method, used prominently in business schools, and examine how it effectively incorporates these essential components of learning to create a comprehensive and impactful educational experience for business students.
