Sutff
Teaching
When teaching multiple topics, you should interleave them, instead of fully explaining each.
A teacher changing the topic in the middle of a lesson (and back later) can be good because it uses interleaving.
The common way to teach is to fully master one topic before moving to the next. This can be bad, because it prevents interleaving.
The optimal way to teach is teach small part of A, then part of B, then part of C, then back to A, etc.
Interleaving learning small parts of different topics is optimal becuase when you get back to a topic, you have forgotten a bit and must recall (which will be slightly difficult and thus encode it in their brain more).
When teachers organize things into modules and categories categories, they make it harder to learn long term, because it lacks interleaving.
Instead of presenting something to read, you should test the students. Because this ensures understanding.
Optimal testing must make the student retrieve the info.
Recognizing something is far easier than recalling it.
Multiple choice questions are bad for learning/testing because it tests if you can recognize the answer, not recall it.
Many teachers spent time trying to make learning easier, but that can actually make learning worse, because struggle is required for lasting learning.
The student doesnt have to struggle with the concepts, the concepts aren't embedded in their long-term memory, and the concepts don't have deep understanding (they didnt translate it into their own understandign).
Ex: if a student asks you a question, first ask them what they think the answer is.
