Think your players progressed today...?

Learning (n)

1. The retention and transfer of knowledge
2. A change in the way the world is understood

Learning consist of three parts – retention, transfer and change.

Learning must also be durable (it should last), flexible (it should be applicable in new and different contexts) and stands at the threshold of knowing and not knowing.

If we accept these ideas, then we should also accept that learning cannot be observed in the here and now. 

The only way to see if something has been retained over time, and transferred to a new context, is to look at what students can do elsewhere and later. 

In a rugby context, you might start your next session examining the skills you focused on in the last session, and not just with the same exercises or games.

Cognitive development happens gradually and by increments; the only way to find out whether a student’s understanding of the world has changed is to wait and see. From this certain things must follow.

To know if something has been learned we should ask ourselves three questions:

1. Will students still know this next week, next month, next year?
2. Will students be able to apply what they have been learning in a new example, a new subject, a new place?
3. How will this transform students’ understanding of the world?

If these questions were routinely asked, teaching might turn out very differently. 

The main conclusion I have come to is that, although we know learning occurs, we can’t actually see it. 

Learning is like dark matter; it exerts a sort of gravitational pull that reveals its existence, but takes place inside students’ minds.

All we can see is what a student is able to do at this moment in time. We can’t see what they’ll be able to do at another time or in another place.

Learning can be different from performance

One of the most important concepts for teachers to understand is the distinction between performance and learning.

Performance is what students can do. It is all that we can ever observe. Learning takes place inside a student’s mind and as such cannot be observed directly.

We can make inferences about learning based on the performances we see; but performances at the point of instruction are a particularly poor predictor of learning. 

What students can do in a lesson – or in response to feedback – tells us very little about what they might be able to do at another time and in another context.

Teachers provide cues and prompts which increase students’ performance in lessons. Students are skilled at mimicking what they think teachers want to see and hear. This might result in learning – but often doesn’t.

Most counter-intuitively, psychologists have found that reducing current performance can actually increase future learning. If students struggle to perform well during instruction, this can make their memories more flexible and durable.

In a rugby context, we must create struggles. This leads to failures and mistakes. 

Your players should understand why they are making the mistakes, as much as how to prevent them in the future. A poor performance in training might be good news.

Storage and retrieval strength

Each item in memory has a storage strength and a retrieval strength.

Storage indicates how well an item is embedded in long-term memory. Retrieval indicates how easily an item can be brought to mind when needed.

Attempts to increase retrieval strength improve performance in the short-term, but very quickly fade. It appears that retrieval practice interferes with our ability to store items more strongly. 

The best way to increase storage strength is to allow items to fade in memory before retrieval practice. Surprisingly, forgetting improves long-term memory.

Rugby takeaways

• Some players look great in training because they mimic well. Make them struggle to create better learning outcomes.
• Put skills into new contexts. Set out activities that draw out skills from sessions in previous weeks.
• Good answers to questions at the end of sessions doesn’t mean players have learned. Real learning is only observed at a later date.

For more visit www.learningspy.co.uk