Accelerated learning is a set of principles and approaches to promoting effective learning. It rests on a foundation of neuro-scientific research from which is extrapolated a series of models and strategies that enhance the capacity of learners.

Knowledge bank

Accelerated learning has a number of underpinning principles:

• A focus on learning
• A positive and purposeful learning environment
• Connection to other learners
• A cyclical approach to learning
• Awareness of the styles and preference for learning that exist amongst learners.

It makes use of neuro-scientific research to inform classroom practice. In particular, it draws on research from functional scanning techniques about how the brain responds to learning tasks.

There has been some criticism of accelerated learning for drawing broad general rules about learning in classrooms from discrete laboratory experiments, sometimes involving animals other than humans. This has been countered by case studies from teachers and schools using it to effect positive change in schools.

Accelerated learning draws broad inferences about how we should plan for learning with the brain in mind, and although there is a range of interpretations of accelerated learning in the UK, a cyclical process is suggested by each proponent.

The approach favoured by the authors is Alistair Smith’s four-stage cycle consisting of:

• Connection (connecting learners to what they already know, to the content, the process of the learning and with one another)
• Activation (offering new ideas, concepts and activating thinking through a rich sensory immersion)
• Demonstration (the opportunity to show what has been learnt, to gain feedback and to practise skills, techniques and knowledge)
• Consolidation (the opportunity to review learning, and review how learning has taken place, to use techniques to commit learning to long-term memory and to consider ways in which learning could be transferred to other areas of school or home life).

It incorporates models of thinking which both explain levels of cognitive challenge and also provide methodology to extend levels of thinking. Bloom’s taxonomy of thinking is used as a framework to encourage six different types of thinking. These include knowledge recall, comprehension, application of learning, analysis, evaluation, and synthesis (or creative development of ideas).

Accelerated learning provides a number of useful ways to think about the classroom and learners including:

• The notion that intelligence is varied and modifiable, drawing on Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory.
• If we take care of the self-esteem and motivation, the behaviour will take care of itself. Accelerated learning draws on six elements of self-esteem which can be developed in classrooms using a range of strategies.
• All learners have different needs including sensory preferences
• There are no mistakes, only learning, which enables learners to take risks in their learning without fear of ridicule or derision.
• Classrooms are places of improvement not comparison, which puts an emphasis on self-motivation and improvement rather than a league table approach to success.

Tools and strategies for promoting motivation, self-esteem, varietal thinking and memory are all included under the accelerated learning umbrella. These include a raft of memory improvement techniques and an education of learners about how their memory is organized and how they can improve it using memory techniques.

Ask yourself

• How much are you currently utilizing research about the brain to inform your teaching?
• What are the principles you’re currently operating on in your classroom and how do they compare with those outlined for accelerated learning?
• How much do you understand about the cyclical process of learning?

To do list

• Consider reading more about brain function and its relationship to learning.
• Share what you know about brain function and learning with your learners.
• Consider being even more explicit with your learners about the principles upon which you operate your classroom.

- Read a book on accelerated learning within the next three months.

Popularity: unranked [?]