Integrative Cognitive Science with Innovative Teaching in STEM Disciplines

As students progress from primary and secondary school to college, they are increasingly expected to learn foundational information (facts, terminology, formulae, concepts, etc.) on their own outside of class. Doing so effectively is no small feat, considering the amount of material students are expected to learn within and across classes, the limited amount of time students have to spend, and that the goal is to learn information well enough to retain it across time. Unfortunately, students are often not effective at regulating their own learning, and thus educators can further support student learning by teaching students how to effectively regulate their own learning outside of the classroom. Herein lies an important challenge for both educators and researchers: What strategies should students use to get the biggest bang for their buck (i.e., the most learning out of limited time)? This chapter describes and prescribes successive relearning as a highly potent strategy for efficiently achieving durable learning.