Ideas / Context
An idea from Sui Learning
Context
No context, no learning.
In plain words
A flight simulator teaches nothing to someone who doesn't know planes exist. People keep what they use. Teach a ten-year-old fractions by having them split a prize fairly among friends and it stays. Teach the same fractions as a worksheet and it's gone by summer. Before a lesson, the student needs to know what the thing is for and what's in it for them.
The research behind it
- Why basics must be taught in context, and why classroom knowledge so often fails to transfer. John Seely Brown, Allan Collins, and Paul Duguid, "Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning" (1989), as cited in Sui Learning.
- Learning as participation in real communities of practice. Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, Situated Learning (1991), as cited in Sui Learning.
- Without review, most of what we memorize is forgotten within days. Hermann Ebbinghaus, Memory (1885).
Questions this answers
- Why do kids forget what they learn in school?
- How do I make lessons stick?
- Why does my child ask "when will I ever use this?"
In the book
In Sui Learning: First Principles; Top Down Learning.
Read the full answers
What is project-based learning, and how do I start?
Related ideas
Cite this idea. Trenton Rich, "Context," in Homeschooling to Create High Achievers in All Areas of Life: Sui Learning (2022), suilearn.ing/idea-context.html. Free to quote, copy and reuse with credit under CC BY 4.0. The book itself is under normal copyright.