This is just a not-yet-investigated observation. Throughout my teacher training and additional post graduate study, the focus was always on learning. How do we get kids to learn more efficiently? Out of this research, education researchers have learned many ways on how to possibly increase the uptake of knowledge and skill. I say "possible" because ultimately any study that is limited to not allowing a negative control, as many education studies are (it is unethical to withhold a possible boon to one group of people), is flawed.
One of the issues I have with the children at my current school is that while they learn well enough, they don't retain anything beyond the day, week, or fortnight from learning. One of the core understandings from neuroscience is that repetition strengthens newly formed pathways, leading to long term memorisation. So have education researchers been so focussed on trying to learn new things faster that they've neglected to look into the retention of information?
When I first heard that homework had been deemed an ineffective learning tool during teacher training, alarm bells went off in my head. They still do when people say this. I understand that "homework" consisting of learning new academic ideas without the teacher or an expert present is a poor way to learn new things. However if no one did homework, then when are children supposed to practise the skills and knowledge they've learned to become proficient at the new skill? I also hear a lot about the adults of tomorrow needing to be more creative. Where is the working memory to be creative going to come from if it's being used to handle the cognitive load from an unpractised skill?
It seems to me that many education researchers and teachers are aiming for the stars and forgetting that a tried and tested rocket is needed to get out there first.
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