upcycled education

Plain guides to how children learn, for parents and teachers. Short, sourced, and organised by topic.

Why the guides are short

children learnin small steps,so these guidesare short and plain,and link their sources.

Children reading on benches in a roof garden library, New York, 1919Boys reaching for a basketball in a playground, New York, 1911

58 guides, each ending in the sources it draws on, and four small tools that run in your browser.

Topics

learning18 guides: how children learnFour children sharing books on the grass, Queensland, around 1905teaching17 guides: in the classroomA teacher standing at the back of a full classroom of pupils at wooden desks, from a 1916 booksupport9 guides: extra supportKindergarten children seated around a table of building blocks, Toledo, Ohio, 1909home6 guides: behaviour and homeA teacher and very young children in a ring on open ground, Ben Shemen, around 1920well-being8 guides: body and mindChildren eating a school lunch at long tables, from a 1913 book on health and the school

look again soon

Something learned once is easily lost. Reviewing it a few times, with longer gaps each time, helps it stay. Pick the day it was learned.

next dayA quick recall, without looking.
3 days onTry again before checking.
a week onMix it with other topics.
two weeks onExplain it to someone else.

A quick recallwithout looking.

Try againbefore checking the answer.

Mix it upwith other topics.

Explain itto someone else.

These gaps are a common rule of thumb for spacing review, not a fixed law, and children vary. The idea goes back to Hermann Ebbinghaus's memory experiments in the 1880s: read the forgetting curve and retrieval practice.

Tools

activity finderIdeas for home by age, area and time.halt check-inHungry, angry, lonely or tired? A one-minute check.review plannerWhen to look at something again.ace questionnaireTen private questions, with support lines.

About this site

Upcycled Education is a guide to how children learn, for parents and teachers. It takes the ideas that work, from memory and teaching methods to support, behaviour and well-being, and says them plainly. Every guide ends with named sources you can check, claims are kept to what the evidence supports, and where it is thin the guide says so. There are 58 guides in five topics, and a few small tools. Read how the site works, and tell us what is wrong.