A nice posting from Daniel Lende on his Neuroanthropology blog @PLoS titled From Good Study Habits to Better Teaching. Some extracts below:

What research has found evidence for is factors that make a difference in individual learning. In part, this is because it is easier to study, control and test these individual factors than complex interactional ones, but that’s a story for another time.

What matters? Variation, timing, and performance. […]

The other major point of the article is that we have to take into account how the brain actually learns, rather than continue to rely on our assumptions, both personal and institutional, about what works for “absorbing knowledge.” Indeed, the “fax” model of learning, where a teacher magically delivers the content into a student’s head, is not based in reality, either for learning or for our understanding of culture. Creating a match between teacher style and student style so there is “clear transmission” of information is not the right model for how learning or teaching actually happen.

Recommended read!