What parents should know about the science of learning

Experts and educators offer advice for parents on the big ideas

Welcome back to The Bell Ringer! It’s an exciting week—I’m launching a new, short Sunday edition, “This week in the science of learning,” a little review of how learning research has shown up in the news, media and culture (heck, there might even be tweets!). And here’s the first post in The Parent Handbook series, which focuses on the best ideas from the science of learning for parents, caregivers and those who don’t think about education all the time. As always, subscribe to get access to all of it!

Do parents need to know the big ideas around the science of learning? When I sent that question to my network of educators, researchers and experts, they gave me an overwhelming yes: some key concepts have the potential to help parents better understand how their kids learn—and might help them understand intellectual development more generally, and even help their kids with homework and study for tests.  

Here are the key concepts this group shared with me as central to understanding. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but the first post in a series explaining these “big ideas” on the science of learning.

As a reporter focusing on teaching and learning for more than a decade, what’s my number one research takeaway for parents? What students learn all day, and how they learn it, matters. In order for students to build a body of knowledge and skills, learning has to be organized and systematic, and able to effectively connect what they learned last year to what they will be learning next year. That may sound obvious, but in my reporting I have found that this isn’t always the case. 

Now, on to what the experts have to say: 

Seven Big Ideas on the Science of Learning for Parents

1. When reading about education research, focus on a clear consensus.

With lots of media outlets, podcasts and social media talking about “the research,” it can be hard to tell which is valuable. Jill Barshay, senior research and data reporter at The Hechinger Report, said she’d advise parents to be wary of “science” that is contested or surrounded by hefty debates. Instead, pay attention when researchers agree or get similar results, like meta-analyses and research syntheses all pointing to similar conclusions pointing in the same direction. 

A good example of a clear consensus, Barshay said, is recent research pointing to reading on paper being superior to reading on a screen. In more than two dozen studies, students reading from paper books performed better in reading comprehension than those who read from tablets, laptops or phones. 

But even when there’s a clear consensus, Barshay warns that doesn’t mean findings are “set in stone.”

“Even here, we need to be open to the idea that research is always evolving,” Barshay said. “Right now, there's overwhelming evidence that there's a SMALL advantage to reading on paper. And ANY kind of reading -- paper or screens -- is better than NO reading.” 

If there’s a number one idea from learning research, it’s this: look for clusters of studies all showing similar results—but keep in mind that good science evolves, and is constantly refining understanding.