Setting The Record Straight On How We Learn with Holly Korbey

📩 Join My Email List Get practical literacy tips, evidence-based reading resources, podcast updates, and exclusive insights delivered straight to your inbox. Join here: https://link.fgfunnels.com/widget/for... --- In this episode of The Reading Symphony Podcast... Katie hosts Holly Korbey, education journalist, author, and creator of The Bell Ringer newsletter, to discuss the science of learning and what parents and educators should know about how children actually learn. Holly explains key concepts such as working memory, background knowledge, retrieval practice, cognitive load, and why explicit instruction is so effective. Together, Katie and Holly explore the science of reading, study habits, writing instruction, knowledge-rich curriculum, and how better teaching can help students learn more effectively. This episode is for parents, educators, school leaders, and advocates interested in evidence-based learning and instruction. Holly Korbey is an education journalist, author, and speaker whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Edutopia, MIT Technology Review, and many other publications. Holly’s links: Newsletter: https://thebellringer.substack.com/ Website: https: //hollykorbey.com/ X/Twitter: https://x.com/hollykorbey LinkedIn:   / holly-korbey-21617331   Chapters: 00:00 – Why the Public Needs to Understand How Learning Works 00:43 – Meet Holly Korbey: Education Journalist & Author 05:00 – Why Holly Asked to Speak on Podcasts About Education 06:00 – “We Need to Understand How Humans Learn” 07:20 – Science of Reading vs. Science of Learning 10:40 – What Cognitive Load Theory Actually Means 15:00 – Homework, Apps & Cognitive Overload 17:00 – Why Explicit Instruction Matters 19:30 – Creative Thinking Is the Goal, Not the Starting Point 21:00 – Sports, Music & How the Brain Learns Skills 24:00 – Why Flashcards Are a Miracle for Learning 26:00 – Effective Study Habits & Spaced Retrieval 28:00 – What Gives Holly Hope About Education #scienceoflearning #scienceofreading #cognitiveload #explicitinstruction #retrievalpractice #structuredliteracy #education #studytips #learning #teaching #flashcards #backgroundknowledge