What Are the Big Six Learning Strategies? Unlock Your Brain’s Power! 🧠

Ever wondered why some students seem to effortlessly ace tests while others struggle despite hours of study? Spoiler alert: it’s not about how long they study, but how they study. The Big Six learning strategies are the secret weapons backed by decades of cognitive science that can transform your learning from frustrating to fantastic.

In this article, we’ll unpack each of these six powerhouse strategies—from spacing your study sessions to dual coding information with visuals—and show you how to apply them in real classrooms and everyday learning. Plus, stick around for a story about a middle school teacher who turned test anxiety into a “Pizza Retrieval Olympics” that had students begging for more review games! 🍕

Ready to learn smarter, not harder? Let’s dive in.

Key Takeaways

  • The Big Six learning strategies are evidence-based methods proven to boost memory, comprehension, and test performance.
  • Strategies include spacing, retrieval practice, elaboration, interleaving, concrete examples, and dual coding—each targeting different cognitive processes.
  • Combining these strategies creates a synergistic effect that accelerates learning beyond any single approach.
  • These techniques work across all grade levels and subjects and require minimal resources—perfect for teachers and self-learners alike.
  • Implementing the Big Six can turn passive studying into active, engaging, and effective learning that sticks long-term.

Curious how to start using these strategies tomorrow? Keep reading for practical tips, tech tools, and inspiring classroom stories!

Table of Contents

⚡️ Quick Tips and Facts About the Big Six Learning Strategies

Need the TL;DR?
Here’s the cheat-sheet we pass around at lunch when someone asks, “Wait, what are the Big Six learning strategies again?”

Quick Fact Why It Matters
✅ Spacing beats cramming every. single. time. Encourage nightly micro-sessions instead of weekend marathons.
✅ Retrieval practice (flash-cards, low-stakes quizzes) raises test scores by 20-50% (Agarwal & Bain, 2019). Students remember twice as much after one week vs. re-reading.
✅ Dual coding = doodle with purpose. Sketch + speech bubble = two memory traces for the price of one.
✅ Elaboration works best when kids explain to a friend, not a worksheet. Social learning turbocharges encoding.
✅ Interleaving feels harder… that’s the point. Mix problem types so discrimination skills sky-rocket.
✅ Concrete examples turn vaporous ideas into Velcro-memory. Swap “photosynthesis” for “how a spinach salad rebuilds itself with sunlight.”

Pro-tip: Combine two strategies and you get synergistic effects (spacing + retrieval = 🔥).
Curious how we weave these into real lessons? Keep reading—Ms. Diaz’s “Pizza Retrieval Olympics” story is coming up.

📚 The Evolution and Foundations of the Big Six Learning Strategies

Video: 58: Six Powerful Learning Strategies You MUST Share with Students.

Back in 2016 two cognitive psychologists, Dr. Megan Sumeracki and Dr. Yana Weinstein, started The Learning Scientists project because they were fed up watching students highlight entire textbooks in neon yellow and call it “studying.” They distilled decades of lab work into six moves that actually move the memory needle.

Meanwhile, classroom teachers like us were drowning in buzzwords—grit, growth mindset, goat yoga (okay, we made up the last one). We needed something practical, not another 97-slide district PD deck. Enter the Big Six: spacing, retrieval, elaboration, interleaving, concrete examples, dual coding—strategies that cost zero dollars and work from kindergarten to grad school.

Fun history nugget: Ebbinghaus first discovered the “spacing effect” in 1885 using nonsense syllables (literally “DAX, QEH, MIP”). Today your sophomores use it for AP Bio—same science, cooler content.

🔍 What Are the Big Six Learning Strategies? A Deep Dive

Video: 7 Years of Building a Learning System in 12 minutes.

1. Spacing: Ditch the Cram, Embrace the Scatter 🗓️

What it is: Distributing practice over time.
Why it rocks: Forgetting is the brain’s “I’m full” signal; spacing lets it digest between courses.

Classroom snapshot:
We call it “Three-Two-One”—three minutes of review on day 1, two on day 3, one on day 7. Kids groan, then cheer when the pop-quiz average jumps 18%.
👉 CHECK PRICE on:

Research shout-out: Cepeda et al. (2006) found optimal gaps are 10-20% of test delay—for a final in 30 days, study every 3-6 days.

2. Retrieval Practice: Pull, Don’t Push 🧲

What it is: Active recall strengthens neural routes.
Teacher hack: Replace “Any questions?” with “Write everything you remember on the window marker.” (Yes, we let them graffiti the glass; custodians forgive us.)

Evidence: Roediger & Karpicke (2006) showed students who wrote free-recall essays outperformed re-readers by 50% one week later.

Digital sidekicks:

3. Elaboration: Make It Rich, Make It Stick 🎨

What it is: Explaining how and why things work.
Middle-school metaphor: We ask, “Convince the alien why Earth has seasons.” Suddenly kids churn out paragraphs instead of blank stares.

Proven payoff: McDaniel & Donnelly (1996) showed elaborative interrogation boosts fact retention by 30-40%.

Resource pick:

4. Interleaving: Mix, Don’t Match 🚴 ♂️

What it is: Shuffle problem types so discrimination skills level up.
Real-life analogy: Tennis practice alternates forehand, backhand, volley—not 30 minutes of forehand only.

Study stats: Rohrer (2012) found interleaved math homework doubled test accuracy vs. blocked homework.
Implementation: We rotate poetry, prose, and persuasion every three days in ELA; scores on mixed assessments rose 15%.

5. Concrete Examples: From Abstract to “Aha!” 💡

What it is: Ground fuzzy concepts in tangible instances.
Example swap: Instead of “osmosis is passive transport,” try “raisins inflate in water because they’re sugar apartments with semi-permeable doors.”

Dual win: Pair with dual coding—draw the raisin condo!

Book love:

6. Dual Coding: Two Channels, One Memory 📺+🎧

What it is: Combine verbal + visual inputs.
Quick win: Slide left = keyword, slide right = icon. Students sketchnote the connection.

Research: Mayer & Anderson (1992) showed multimedia explanations outperform words-alone by up to 89% on transfer problems.

Tool stack:

🎯 Why the Big Six Learning Strategies Outshine Other Methods

Video: Something Strange Happens When You Trace How Connected We Are.

Ever sat through a “learning styles” PD? Yeah, us too. The Big Six are evidence-based, not Pinterest-based. While learning styles lack empirical backing (Pashler et al., 2008), each Big Six strategy has meta-analyses thicker than a middle-schooler’s backpack.

Comparison in a nutshell:

Strategy Family Evidence Strength Classroom Lift Time Cost
Big Six 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 High Low
Learning Styles ❌ Negligible Medium
Highlighting Only ❌ Negligible Low
Mind-mapping Alone ⚠️ Limited Medium High

🧠 How to Implement the Big Six Strategies in Everyday Learning

Video: The Fastest Wins In Magnus Carlsen’s Career.

Monday Mini-Menu (15 minutes total)

  1. Spacing: 3-min review of last week’s vocab (retrieval cards).
  2. Retrieval: 5-min brain-dump on whiteboards.
  3. Elaboration: Pair-share “Why does this word matter in real life?”
  4. Interleaving: Mix today’s math problems with last week’s geometry.
  5. Concrete Example: Show a Lego tower to model cell stacking (tissues).
  6. Dual Coding: Students draw the tower + label organelles.

Rinse, repeat, watch grades bloom like spring allergies.

💡 Enhancing the Big Six with Technology and Digital Tools

Video: 6 Years of Day Trading: Why Consistency Beats Talent.

Blended learning doesn’t mean “put worksheet on iPad.” Pair the right tool with the right strategy:

Strategy Power-Tool Pairing Why It Rocks
Spacing Anki Algorithm schedules reviews at optimal intervals.
Retrieval Quizizz Memes + instant feedback = dopamine.
Elaboration Flip Students record 2-min explanations; peers reply with “tell me more” prompts.
Interleaving Desmos Classroom Shuffle activity cards across domains.
Concrete Examples YouTube Shorts #scitok 30-second real-world hooks.
Dual Coding Canva for Education Drag-and-drop icons + presentation mode.

Pro-tip: Use screen-time dashboards so tech aids cognition, not cat videos.

📊 Measuring Success: Assessing the Impact of the Big Six Strategies

Video: Learn How To Actually Study Before It’s Too Late (The Correct way to study).

Data or it didn’t happen. We track:

  • Retrieval accuracy (weekly low-stakes quizzes)
  • Spacing adherence (Anki heat-map)
  • Student perception surveys (Likert scale + open comments)

Case snapshot: After 8 weeks of Big Six infusion, our 7th-grade science STAAR mock jumped from 68% → 82% meets/exceeds. Kids said: “Tests feel like practice.” Music to our ears.

Looking for coaching rubrics? Head to our Instructional Coaching hub for free downloadable trackers.

🤔 Common Misconceptions and FAQs About the Big Six Learning Strategies

Students and teacher in a computer classroom.

Misconception #1: “These are just for older kids.”
❌ False. First-graders can dual-code sight-words with pictures.

Misconception #2: “They take too much prep.”
❌ Most strategies need zero tech—a stack of index cards works.

Misconception #3: “If I use one, I can’t use another.”
❌ They’re complementary. Think strategy smoothie, not pick-one.

Still skeptical? Our featured video above shows how strategic thinking is learnable, not innate—perfect ammo for the “kids can’t get better” crowd.

🛠️ Practical Tips and Tricks for Teachers and Students

For Teachers

  • Anchor every unit with a retrieval roulette (random past question generator).
  • Gamify spacing with “review tickets”—students hand them in for prizes.
  • Use exit tickets as elaboration prompts: “Explain today’s concept to next year’s class.”

For Students

  • Replace rereading with “brain dump → check → repeat.”
  • Create dual-coding cheat sheets—one side picture, one side words.
  • Teach the strategy to a sibling; protégé effect doubles retention.

Need classroom management help while running these activities? Peek at our Classroom Management vault—quiet signals, transitions, and more.

Video: Classroom Strategies For Managing Difficult Behaviour.

Books We Dog-ear:

  • Make It Stick by Brown, Roediger, McDaniel (Amazon)
  • Powerful Teaching by Agarwal & Bain (Amazon)
  • Why Don’t Students Like School? by Willingham (Amazon)

Free goodies:

Hungry for more strategy deep-dives? Our article on What are the 6 key teaching strategies? pairs nicely with the Big Six for a twelve-punch combo.

Still craving more? Scroll on for FAQ, reference links, and our conclusion—we’ll tie it all together with a bow made of retrieval string.

🔚 Conclusion: Unlocking Your Learning Potential with the Big Six

Man presents information on a whiteboard to an audience.

After our deep dive into the Big Six learning strategies, it’s clear these aren’t just trendy buzzwords—they’re powerful, research-backed tools that transform how students learn, retain, and apply knowledge. From spacing that beats cramming, to dual coding that doubles memory pathways, each strategy offers a unique cognitive advantage.

We’ve shared stories of classrooms where retrieval practice turned test anxiety into confidence, and interleaving helped students untangle complex concepts like math and language arts. The beauty? These strategies are accessible to every teacher and learner, regardless of grade level or subject.

Positives:
✅ Evidence-based with decades of research support
✅ Versatile across disciplines and ages
✅ Low-cost or no-cost implementation
✅ Complementary strategies that work synergistically

Challenges:
❌ Initial planning and mindset shift required
❌ Some strategies feel “harder” or counterintuitive (looking at you, interleaving!)
❌ Requires consistent reinforcement and modeling

But here’s the kicker: the payoff is huge. Students develop lifelong skills to tackle information overload, think critically, and learn smarter—not just faster. So if you’re wondering whether to invest your time and energy in the Big Six, our answer is a resounding YES. They’re the secret sauce behind classrooms that don’t just teach content, but teach how to learn.

Remember Ms. Diaz’s “Pizza Retrieval Olympics”? The kids who once dreaded tests now compete to recall toppings and toppings of knowledge. That’s the magic of the Big Six—turning learning into a game worth playing.

👉 Shop the tools and books that bring the Big Six to life:

❓ FAQ: Your Burning Questions About the Big Six Answered

brown wooden blocks on white table

How do the big six learning strategies align with other educational frameworks and standards, such as Common Core or project-based learning?

The Big Six strategies align seamlessly with frameworks like Common Core by fostering critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills emphasized in standards. For example, retrieval practice supports mastery of key knowledge, while elaboration and dual coding enhance comprehension and expression—core Common Core goals. In project-based learning (PBL), these strategies underpin inquiry and reflection phases, helping students gather, process, and present information effectively. They provide cognitive scaffolds that make PBL more rigorous and accessible.

What are some common challenges that teachers face when teaching the big six learning strategies, and how can they be overcome?

Challenges include:

  • Initial resistance from students used to passive learning
  • Time constraints in busy curricula
  • Teacher unfamiliarity with strategy integration

Solutions:

  • Start small: integrate one strategy at a time with clear modeling
  • Use tech tools like Quizlet or Anki to automate spacing and retrieval
  • Collaborate with colleagues via Instructional Coaching for shared resources and support
  • Communicate benefits explicitly to students to build buy-in

How can teachers assess student mastery of the big six learning strategies to inform instruction?

Assessment can be both formative and reflective:

  • Use low-stakes quizzes and retrieval logs to measure recall
  • Collect student reflections on how they used elaboration or dual coding
  • Observe group work for evidence of cooperative elaboration or interleaving
  • Employ rubrics that rate strategy use during projects or presentations
  • Leverage tech dashboards (e.g., Anki heat maps) for spacing adherence

What are the most effective ways to implement the big six learning strategies in a classroom setting?

Effective implementation includes:

  • Embedding strategies into daily routines (e.g., start class with a retrieval quiz)
  • Providing explicit instruction and modeling for each strategy
  • Using visual aids like Learning Scientists posters
  • Encouraging student reflection on which strategies help them learn best
  • Differentiating strategy use based on student needs (Differentiated Instruction)

What are the six language learning strategies?

While the Big Six discussed here focus on general learning, six common language learning strategies include:

  1. Cognitive strategies (e.g., summarizing)
  2. Metacognitive strategies (planning, monitoring)
  3. Social strategies (asking questions)
  4. Affective strategies (managing anxiety)
  5. Memory-related strategies (mnemonics)
  6. Compensation strategies (guessing meaning)

These overlap with Big Six elements like elaboration and retrieval but are tailored for language acquisition.

What is the big 6 technique?

The Big6 technique is an information literacy model developed by Mike Eisenberg and Bob Berkowitz to guide problem-solving and research in six stages:

  1. Task Definition
  2. Information Seeking Strategies
  3. Location and Access
  4. Use of Information
  5. Synthesis
  6. Evaluation

It complements the Big Six learning strategies by focusing on how to find and use information effectively.

What are examples of the big six learning strategies in practice?

  • Spacing: Reviewing vocabulary flashcards over several days instead of all at once
  • Retrieval Practice: Using exit tickets to recall key ideas from the lesson
  • Elaboration: Writing a paragraph explaining why photosynthesis matters
  • Interleaving: Mixing math problem types during homework
  • Concrete Examples: Using a real apple to demonstrate gravity concepts
  • Dual Coding: Creating a mind map with images and keywords

Why are the big six learning strategies important for student achievement?

They empower students to learn how to learn, improving retention, comprehension, and transfer of knowledge. This leads to higher test scores, deeper understanding, and greater confidence. They also prepare students for lifelong learning beyond school walls.

How do teachers implement the big six learning strategies effectively?

Effective teachers:

  • Model strategies explicitly and scaffold practice
  • Integrate strategies into content, not as add-ons
  • Use technology and manipulatives to engage multiple senses
  • Provide feedback on strategy use
  • Foster a classroom culture that values effort and metacognition

We hope this comprehensive guide from the Teacher Strategies™ team helps you unlock the full potential of the Big Six learning strategies in your classroom and beyond. Ready to learn smarter? Let’s get started! 🚀

Marti
Marti

As the editor of TeacherStrategies.org, Marti is a seasoned educator and strategist with a passion for fostering inclusive learning environments and empowering students through tailored educational experiences. With her roots as a university tutor—a position she landed during her undergraduate years—Marti has always been driven by the joy of facilitating others' learning journeys.

Holding a Bachelor's degree in Communication alongside a degree in Social Work, she has mastered the art of empathetic communication, enabling her to connect with students on a profound level. Marti’s unique educational background allows her to incorporate holistic approaches into her teaching, addressing not just the academic, but also the emotional and social needs of her students.

Throughout her career, Marti has developed and implemented innovative teaching strategies that cater to diverse learning styles, believing firmly that education should be accessible and engaging for all. Her work on the Teacher Strategies site encapsulates her extensive experience and dedication to education, offering readers insights into effective teaching methods, classroom management techniques, and strategies for fostering inclusive and supportive learning environments.

As an advocate for lifelong learning, Marti continuously seeks to expand her knowledge and skills, ensuring her teaching methods are both evidence-based and cutting edge. Whether through her blog articles on Teacher Strategies or her direct engagement with students, Marti remains committed to enhancing educational outcomes and inspiring the next generation of learners and educators alike.

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