Blueprint · A series on learning
10 Things We Were All Taught About Learning That Aren't True
Most of us were never taught how learning works. We were taught habits, and we kept them.
Rereading, highlighting, cramming the night before. I used every one of them, all the way to a doctorate. Over the next few months, I'm taking these myths apart one at a time, with the research behind each one.
Rahny Day
All ten myths are listed below, each with one fact worth knowing today.
A full post goes live every two weeks: why the myth feels true, and what to notice in yourself.
Then a set just for adult learners, and a set just for parents. Choose your lane below.
The series
The myths, one by one.
"Rereading is studying."
In one survey, 84% of college students said they study by rereading, and more than half called it their top strategy. Researchers rate it among the least effective methods there is.
So why does it feel like it works?
"Highlighting means I'm engaging with it."
A major review of study techniques rated highlighting low in usefulness. Leaning on it alone can leave you feeling more prepared than you are.
What is the highlighter actually doing for you?
"I'm a visual learner."
In one study, 93% of UK teachers believed students learn best in their preferred style. A major review found no solid evidence that teaching to a style improves learning.
If it isn't true, why does nearly everyone believe it?
"If it feels easy, I'm learning it."
In a Harvard physics study, students felt they learned more from polished lectures. Their test scores showed they learned more in the classes that felt harder.
Can you trust the feeling of knowing?
"Struggling means I'm not smart enough."
Learning researchers describe some difficulty as "desirable," because effort that feels harder is often what makes learning last.
So how do you tell helpful struggle from the kind that isn't?
"Cramming works. I passed."
Studying spread out over time is one of the two highest-rated techniques in the research. Cramming can get you through tomorrow, but passing tomorrow and knowing it next month are two different things.
What did the grade actually measure?
"Practice one thing at a time."
In one study, most people believed practicing one type at a time worked best. Mixing types together actually produced better results.
Why does the better method feel worse?
"More hours means more learning."
I once read over a thousand pages a week, across two courses at the same time. I kept up with the reading. I didn't keep the learning.
If hours aren't the measure, what is?
"Good grades mean my child is learning."
Grades can hold steady while understanding stays shallow, especially when a student has found a way to perform that never asks them to connect ideas.
What would you look for instead?
"My child is left-brained."
About half of US educators surveyed believed people learn differently depending on which side of the brain is dominant. The research doesn't support it.
Where do brain myths like this come from?
For adult learners
7 ways we try to fix our own learning that backfire.
When learning stops working, most of us reach for the same fixes: more hours, more tools, more pressure. Here is what the research says about each one.
"I'll push through with more hours and less sleep."
Sleep is when the brain locks in new learning. In one Harvard study, students who stayed awake for 35 hours remembered 19% less of what they studied than students who slept.
What is the all-nighter actually costing you?
"I can study while I keep an eye on everything else."
In one Stanford study, the people who multitasked with media the most were more easily pulled off course by irrelevant information, not less.
What is your attention doing while you think you're studying?
"If I feel confident, I'm ready."
In a classic study, the people who scored lowest on a test guessed they had done better than most of the group. Confidence and readiness are not the same measure.
How would you know if you weren't ready?
"Getting through the reading means I learned it."
Finishing every page and keeping what's on them are two different achievements. I did the first for a whole semester before I understood that.
If it isn't the last page, what does mastery look like?
"A new planner or app will fix it."
Better tools organize the same habits. If the habit is the problem, a nicer system just runs it more smoothly.
What would you change if the tool weren't the answer?
"It's been too long. I'm too old to learn this way."
In a study of adults aged 60 to 90, those who spent three months learning demanding new skills, like digital photography, improved their memory. Those doing familiar activities did not.
What if the challenge is the point?
"I was never a good student."
A grade from years ago measured the methods you were given, not the mind you have.
What would change if you read your record differently?
For parents
7 ways we try to help our kids study that backfire.
You are doing what you were told good parents do. Some of it helps. Some of it quietly works against what you want for your child.
"Sitting with them through homework helps."
A large study of more than 60 kinds of parent involvement found that homework help did not raise test scores. From middle school on, scores tended to drop when parents worked through assignments with their child.
So what kind of help does help?
"I should help with math every night, even if math stresses me out."
In a study of 438 first and second graders, children whose math-anxious parents helped often learned less math over the year, and grew more anxious about it.
What is your child learning from you besides the math?
"Tell them they're smart."
Children praised for being smart chose easier tasks, struggled more after a setback, and were more likely to misreport their scores. Children praised for effort chose harder tasks.
What does “smart” teach a child to protect?
"Pay them for good grades."
In experiments with about 38,000 students, paying for grades did not raise achievement. Paying for concrete actions, like reading books, sometimes did.
Why wouldn't a reward for the result change the result?
"Going over their notes together is the best review."
Reading notes together feels productive. Asking your child to explain the material from memory does more of the work that makes learning stick.
Who is doing the remembering at your kitchen table?
"More checking keeps them on track."
Researchers found that how parents get involved matters more than how much, and support that lets a child lead tends to work better than control.
What would happen if you checked less and asked more?
"Fix the mistakes before they hand it in."
Polished homework hides exactly what your child doesn't understand yet, from the teacher and from your child.
What is a mistake trying to tell you?
"Familiar is not the same as knowing."
Rahny Day
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Each myth as it goes live, plus what I'm seeing in the work. Choose the letter written for you.
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See the family pageThe research behind this series
The 10 myths
- Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan and Willingham (2013). Improving Students' Learning With Effective Learning Techniques: Promising Directions From Cognitive and Educational Psychology.
- Karpicke, Butler and Roediger (2009). Metacognitive Strategies in Student Learning: Do Students Practise Retrieval When They Study on Their Own?
- Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer and Bjork (2008). Learning Styles: Concepts and Evidence.
- Dekker, Lee, Howard-Jones and Jolles (2012). Neuromyths in Education: Prevalence and Predictors of Misconceptions among Teachers.
- Deslauriers, McCarty, Miller, Callaghan and Kestin (2019). Measuring Actual Learning Versus Feeling of Learning in Response to Being Actively Engaged in the Classroom.
- Kornell and Bjork (2008). Learning Concepts and Categories: Is Spacing the "Enemy of Induction"?
- Bjork and Bjork (2019). Forgetting as the Friend of Learning: Implications for Teaching and Self-Regulated Learning.
- Macdonald, Germine, Anderson, Christodoulou and McGrath (2017). Dispelling the Myth: Training in Education or Neuroscience Decreases but Does Not Eliminate Beliefs in Neuromyths.
For adult learners
- Yoo, Hu, Gujar, Jolesz and Walker (2007). A Deficit in the Ability to Form New Human Memories Without Sleep.
- Ophir, Nass and Wagner (2009). Cognitive Control in Media Multitaskers.
- Kruger and Dunning (1999). Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments.
- Park, Lodi-Smith, Drew, Haber, Hebrank, Bischof and Aamodt (2014). The Impact of Sustained Engagement on Cognitive Function in Older Adults: The Synapse Project.
For parents
- Robinson and Harris (2014). The Broken Compass: Parental Involvement with Children's Education.
- Maloney, Ramirez, Gunderson, Levine and Beilock (2015). Intergenerational Effects of Parents' Math Anxiety on Children's Math Achievement and Anxiety.
- Mueller and Dweck (1998). Praise for Intelligence Can Undermine Children's Motivation and Performance.
- Fryer (2011). Financial Incentives and Student Achievement: Evidence from Randomized Trials.
- Pomerantz, Moorman and Litwack (2007). The How, Whom, and Why of Parents' Involvement in Children's Academic Lives: More Is Not Always Better.