Accelerated

learning
‘Accelerated learning combines aspects
of established learning theory with
brain-based approaches, in order to
engage learners and speed up the
process of learning.’
Lucas (2005)

What is accelerated learning?

Accelerated education refers to any attempt to speed up the
teaching and learning process and achieve the desired learning
outcomes faster and more efficiently than through more
traditional arrangements and approaches. • We develop a wider range of skills if teachers ensure they
offer a variety of learning approaches - rather than limiting
Acceleration can happen at two different levels: to the teachers’ own preferred learning approach.
1 Programme • We learn more when we are at the edge of our comfort zone
2 Learning experience or process – teachers should plan challenging experiences that students
Accelerated programmes usually aim to enable particular groups can attempt in a ‘safe’ environment. Students should feel
of students to make faster progress through the curriculum than willing to ‘take risks’ but will not learn effectively if placed
their peers (Hattie, 2009). This might take the form of more able under negative stress.
students joining courses or modules alongside their older peers. • We learn more when we have opportunities to discuss –
Alternatively, accelerated programmes and courses can be used teachers should allow students opportunities to ‘talk
to help at-risk students to catch up with their peers by the time through’ their learning. Being involved in a meaningful
they reach a particular milestone, e.g. transfer from primary to dialogue will encourage students to share ideas with one
secondary school. another. By explaining concepts in their own words students
Accelerated learning, on the other hand, focuses on making will gain a deeper understanding of the concepts themselves.
the learning process more efficient. It does so by drawing • We access information through all of our senses – teachers
on the latest research findings about how the brain works should give students the opportunity to learn and
(neuroscience) and creating a positive environment in which demonstrate their understanding in a variety of ways.
students are active and learn together.
• We learn more if our experiences are memorable – teachers
should make the learning experience original and, if possible,
What are the principles underpinning unique. People remember context rather than content.
accelerated learning? • We remember more if we regularly review what we have
• We learn best when we not affected by negative learnt – teachers should allow adequate time for reflection
emotions and enjoy the learning process. and review. This should be planned for in every lesson and if
• We learn best when we are engaged. necessary between each activity. Teachers should also
explicitly teach techniques for memorising.
• We learn more if we can connect information to other things
- teachers should encourage students to connect their
learning to what they already know about a topic, to other
topics and subjects or to real life applications of a topic.

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Health warning • Brochures, quizzes, campaigns, sermons, games,
dominoes, interviews, hot seating, market places,
Whilst neuroscience can be extremely powerful in making newscasts, storyboards and treasure hunts are all
teaching and learning more efficient and productive, it excellent alternatives to ‘doing three exam questions’.
is important to keep up with its developments (as latest
research can easily turn past findings into urban myths!) As Mike Hughes once remarked...
and also ensure that any findings are interpreted correctly
for their use in education. One example of how this can go ‘Learning without reviewing is
wrong is that of VAK and learning styles.
like trying to fill the bath without
Oversimplification in interpreting the research findings
resulted in some practitioners and students treating their putting the plug in.’
learning style like ‘blood group’ (Lucas, 2010). Research
evidence suggests that using tests (which are often The Review section of the cycle should consolidate not
unreliable) to identify students’ preferred ‘styles’ and then only what has been learnt, but also how it has been learnt.
matching learning activities to these can have a negative Remember that we learn more when our whole brain is
effect on their learning and outcomes (Higgins et al, 2013). engaged – the strategy of pole-bridging gets students to
At the same time, knowing that people learn differently and describe what they are doing as they do it, thereby engaging
having a repertoire of strategies to engage students with new both left and right hemispheres of the brain. A skilled review
information through various senses (which is what VAK was is more like a debrief of the lesson’s content and context.
about in the first place) is a useful and positive teaching and
learning strategy. Simple ways to review a lesson might be...
• A pyramid review which asks students to write down three
When students are asked to apply to demonstrate new important things they have learned. Two key definitions
understanding, they should not simply be regurgitating and one question they still need answering.
information that they have taken in, nor should they be
completing the same task as they have been in the construct • How could you teach your grandmother what you’ve
section. As teachers we need to offer students a variety learnt today?
of options, across a module or within a single lesson, to • Can you complete sections of a module map that relate
demonstrate what they have learnt. We also need to allow to today’s lesson?
time for useful feedback to students, if possible from a • Circle time – return to the learning outcomes and
real audience. ask students if they feel they have been successful.
Do they have any evidence? This is a great opportunity
to use Edward de Bono’s ‘thinking hats’.
• Share photos of the class taken during the lesson to
provoke a discussion about the skills used during the
lesson – ‘Can we see good collaboration in
this picture?’
• Chill-out review – have the key features of the topic
on a scrolling PowerPoint with relaxing music
playing in the background.
• Use graphic organisers and specific memory techniques
in order to clarify information that has been learnt during
Students demonstrate that they can create a the lesson. For example, Hyerles thinking maps (Double
scatter diagram bubble. etc), comparison alley, plus minus interesting
and other peoples’ viewpoints, etc.
So what might this look like in the classroom?
• Get students to perform a dance routine based on
graph equations.
• Challenge students to create lyrics to a tune based on
the content of the lesson.
• Involve ICT by getting students to produce a video,
PowerPoint, Screen Flash, animating or Movie
Maker presentation.
• Posters are a simple way for students to communicate
their understanding – even more challenging if they are
only allowed to use a certain number of key words
or images.
• Ask students to write a radio advert to ‘sell’ the topic
they have learnt – for example, ‘try the all new ‘general
formula’ – solves all known quadratics! Would you swap Brain Gym with collaboration and competition –
two packets of your old factorisation method for one students agree on their action and then compete
new general formula?’ as wizards, elves or giants!

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What does that look like In doing so, we are not only engaging the interest of the
students but also getting their brains to organise and store
in our classrooms? the information that they are receiving. The more links that the
• Create a positive, safe learning environment – welcome brain makes, the more likely the student is to be able to recall
your students, make sure your room is a ‘No Put-Down the information.
zone’, have useful interactive display, use music.
• Focus feedback on specific learning objectives and
allow students time to respond to it.
• Share the big picture, including content, process and
the benefits to students.
• Engage and challenge students by hooking them into
the lesson and by asking higher order questions.
• Introduce new information in a variety of different
ways (VAK).
• Provide opportunities for students to construct and
demonstrate their learning in a variety of different
ways (multiple intelligences).
• Review what has been learned and how it has
been learned. Students prepare to learn about Pythagoras’
theorem using tactile activity
How does Accelerated learning Some ways in which we might connect the learning:
underpin the TEEP framework? • Create a scrolling PowerPoint of images related to the
In the Prepare for learning section of the TEEP learning cycle, topic you are introducing. Add music which is relevant or
students should be welcomed into the room by the teacher. creates a particular mood. Ask students what they think
A quick greeting or congratulatory word will give a boost to the lesson is about.
students as they enter your room. Students should also be • Use analogies to get students thinking – Why is
fully aware of the expectations, routines, rituals that are in Trigonometry like being in the SAS? Why is shopping at
place in your classroom. This ensures that all students feel Lidl like the rate of determining step in chemistry?
safe in your classroom. If students have the safety blanket of • Ask students to brainstorm all they know about a topic
routines and rituals in a classroom then they are more likely – or all they would like to know about it.
to be willing to take risks in their learning or to move towards • Use dominoes or match-up cards – match equations
the edge of their comfort zone. To develop a safe and secure to graphs, label diagrams, pair common attributes,
environment, a ‘No Put-down’ policy should be adhered order events.
to at all times. Answering questions should be seen as a • Give each student one piece of information as they enter
positive action and giving the wrong answer to a question the room and ask them to get in order, or find their partner
is merely a stepping-stone on the journey towards deeper or group, depending on the information you have
understanding. Simple expectations like a ‘quality audience’ given them.
and ‘quality collaboration’ should be explicitly discussed
• Ask students to write down the three most important
with students and their agreed understanding should be
things they learnt in the previous lesson – discuss with
displayed in the classroom at all times. Display should be
their partner to see if they can come up with
useful and if possible, interactive. Music may be used to
5 together.
relax students, to hook them in to the topic being studied
or simply to act as a timing device. The furniture should be • Give students a learning mat, which contains key words,
arranged to meet the needs of the activities that have been objectives and images for the topic they are working on.
planned and consideration of students preferences for light/
temperature/ water intake should be made. Most importantly
this is the section of the lesson when we connect to what
has come before, or to other topics or some real life context.

Students are
given positive
praise before
they enter the
classroom An example of a learning mat

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When we agree the learning outcomes, we are giving
students the big picture about what to expect in the lesson.
This is beneficial to those students whose hemispheric
preference is towards the right side of the brain. If we match
our outcomes to higher order thinking skills, as described
by Bloom or Andersen (qv: thinking skills card), then we are
more likely to create challenging situations for our students.
Remember also that we should be sharing with our students
what success looks like and what good learning looks like.
Starting your learning outcomes with the statement ‘We will
be successful if, by the end of this lesson, we are able to...’
does not give away what activities the students might be
doing in the lesson, but certainly allows them to see where
they are going in their learning. It also provides opportunities
for discussion because it opens up avenues for pupils to ask,
‘How will I be able to do that?’ ‘How will that be useful to
me?’ and ‘How will I be assessed?’ This is when the teacher
can really sell the benefits of the lesson to students. If we For example, ‘What will we need to do as a team to
really want to answer all these questions for our students produce a quality product?’ or ‘What steps will I need to
then we may also share with them the assessment criteria at take in order to determine the best shape to contain
the start of the lesson, so that they know exactly what they 100 smarties?’
will need to produce in order to be successful. How else • Question-based outcomes often make a lesson more
might we agree the learning outcomes? interesting to students (appealing to the ‘What’s in it for
me?’ phenomenon). For example, ‘How can we ensure
• WALT (We are learning to...), WILF (What I’m looking for...)
safe access to clean water for all humans?’ or ‘What if
and TIB (This is because...) are great ways to structure
there were no numbers?’
your learning outcomes. Simply by having these acronyms
in your mind as you plan a lesson you automatically start • An evidence checklist could be handed to students
to think of the benefits of learning the topic you for them to fill in as the lesson progresses; a variety of
are covering. evidence that shows that they have met the desired
learning outcomes.
• Success criteria can be as detailed as you want,
depending on the class you are working with. • Finally, remember that learning outcomes do not all
For example, ‘Produce a poster containing not more have to be content driven – skills and qualities are of
than 5 key words, at least 3 images, 2 relevant website equal importance and should be recognised as such
links, etc. or ‘All students must contribute to the at the start of the lesson. For example, ‘By the end of this
presentation, etc’ lesson you will have demonstrated the skills of resilience
and resourcefulness.’
• In a logical/ sequential topic ‘Steps to Success’ may be
more valid and are certainly something that can be
agreed with students rather than just shared with them.

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Presenting new information is a key feature in any lesson In the Construct section of the TEEP learning cycle
and should engage as many of the senses as possible in students should be offered the opportunity to access a
order to be most effective. The minimum requirement here is range of activities that vary in their approaches.
that a presentation should include visual as well as auditory
For example, a carousel of activities for trigonometry
stimulus – but if we can engage students’ senses of smell,
might include...
touch and taste, then their experience may become more
memorable. We often remember context rather than content • a tactile matching cards exercise where diagrams,
– the easiest examples being when the context is something questions and solutions are matched in sets of three
particularly shocking. Many adults remember exactly where • a thinking skills style mystery where students need to
they were on the day that JFK was shot. Likewise, the locate some buried treasure on a map
animals in the forest on the day that Bambi’s mother was • a group activity where students work together to produce
shot. Whatever the shocking event, links are made by our a set of ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’ style test questions
brains between it and other events – like where we were, including ‘good’ wrong answers (this would probably
who we were with or what we spoke about. If we can include ICT)
harness this brain activity in our lessons then we have more
chance of helping our students to remember the content • a poem/ song/ mnemonic challenge, where students
that they need. Obviously we can’t assassinate an American have to create a unique reminder for the trigonometric
president every Thursday period 6 just to engage the tricky ratios, SOH – CAH – TOA
year ten class, but there are things that we can do to grab • an activity that involves students making a clinometer
their attention. A grand reaction in chemistry is a simple from a protractor, string and blu-tac and going outside to
example, but what about those subjects that don’t lend estimate the height of the school building
themselves to fireworks? • an individual activity where students mark and correct a
• Dress as a character from history and teach your lesson in completed exam question containing deliberate errors.
the style of that person.
• Sing a song about the topic you are teaching at the start
of the lesson and challenge your students to better it
before the end of the lesson.
• Bring a new character into your lessons (by video,
PowerPoint, hand puppet etc.) so that you are not always
the one to introduce difficult concepts – for example.
Mad Hairy Scientist Man, Gavin the Gas Particle,
Geography Jim, Matt O’Maticks (maths), Shakespeare’s
Sister (English).
• Read poetry over images of war for a history module.
• Use film clips which relate to a topic – Cinema Paradiso
for enlargements in maths, The Day After Tomorrow for
global warming, Sixth Sense for Beliefs.
• Use humour – find a video clip, sound file or cartoon
drawing that relates to the topic in some way.
And what about simply allowing your students to use
their senses?
• Letting students feel shapes in maths will enhance
their understanding of face, edges and vertices.
• Darken the room and guide your students through
a visualisation.
• Hang crepe paper from the door and play jungle sounds Kinaesthetic activity designed to get students
as students enter for a lesson on the rain forests. thinking about shapes and number patterns
• Allow students to smell or taste food from a particular
region/time period (check for allergies!)
• Give students pieces of rock to feel when discussing
the rock cycle in Science.
“Accelerated learning gives you the
• Get students to peel an onion when discussing ‘Valentine’ freedom to learn. It helps you to tap
or peel an orange to discuss the relationships between
3D and 2D objects (nets).
into that genius that all of us have.’’
• Allow students to hold artefacts relevant to the lesson. Jeanette Vos PhD
• Remember also that lavender and chamomile scents The Learning Revolution
reportedly reduce stress and lemon and jasmine
scents are supposed to induce a positive attitude
– so get spraying.

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 References and further reading
‘Dual route’ theory Lozanov, G (1978) Suggestology and Outlines of Suggestopedy.
Gordon and Breach: New York.
and teaching reading
Rose, C and Nicholl, M (1997) Accelerated Learning for the 21st
This theory states that the brain processes Century. Judy Piatkus Ltd.
works along one of two complementary
Smith, A, Lovatt, M and Wise,D (2003) Accelerated Learning, a
pathways, either by:
User’s Guide. Network Educational Press: Stafford.
• converting letters/words into sounds; or
Hannaford, C (1995) Smart Moves - Why learning is not all in
• via direct transfer of the whole word/phrase your head. Great Ocean Publishers.
into meaning.
Gardner, H (1993) Frames of Mind; the theory of multiple
In the debate over whether children should be intelligences. Fontana Press.
taught reading by focusing on phonetic skills or
Goleman, D (1996) Emotional Intelligence - why it can matter
whole language text immersion, dual route theory more than IQ. Bloomsbury Publishing.
implies the importance of both and suggests a
balanced approach. Csikszentmihalyi, M (1996) Creativity; Flow and the Psychology
of Discoveryand Invention. Harper Collins.
Learning and emotions Claxton, G (2005) Building Learning Power. TLO Ltd.

Positive emotions trigger motivation to learn. CUREE (2009) Neuroscience: GTC research for teachers
The brain responds very well to the ‘enlightenment’ summary. Available online at: http://tinyurl.com/onngrvk
– illumination that comes with the understanding Hattie, J. (2009) Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800
of new concepts. Helping students realise how meta-analyses related to achievement. Routledge: London.
pleasurable learning can be is a way of improving Accelerated learning for 21st century and Accelerated learning
motivation and engaging disaffected learners. – A user’s guide. Alastair Smith, Mark Lovatt and Derek Wise
At the same time, research shows that while a (2003).
small amount of stress can lead to improved Higgins, S., Katsipataki, M., Kokotsaki, D., Coleman, R.,
learning and adaptation to a changing Major, L.E., & Coe, R. (2013). The Sutton Trust-Education
environment, beyond low levels it can be Endowment Foundation Teaching and Learning Toolkit.
damaging both mentally and physically, and London: Education Endowment Foundation.
can block learning. Kulik, J.A. & Kulik, C.L.C. (1984) Synthesis of research on
effects of accelerated instruction. Educational Leadership,
Memory and learning 42 (2) 84-89

Memory and learning are interdependent: memory Levin, H.M. (1988) Accelerated schools for at-risk students.
CPRE Research Report Series RR-010. New Brunswick, NJ:
is built on learning while the benefits of learning
Center for Policy Research in Education, Eagelton Institute of
can be ‘stored’ and developed thanks to memory.
Politics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
During the learning process, traces are left by the
processing of information. Memory is a cognitive Lucas, B. (2005) The evidence for accelerated learning.
process that allows us both to reactivate these Teaching Expertise magazine, Issue 9, Autumn 2005.
traces and to further develop them when acquiring Available online at: http://tinyurl.com/bsmkoj
new information. Using approaches such as Mind McKeon, K.J. (1995) What is this thing called accelerated
Maps and other similar memory techniques can learning? Training and Development, 49 (6), 64-66.
aid the learning process as well as memorise Serdyukov, P. (2008) Accelerated learning: What is it?
the content. Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching, 1(1), 35-59.
Yet some teaching methods and student Smith, A. Lovatt, M. & Wise, D. (2003) Accelerated Learning,
evaluation approaches rely too much on memory. a User’s Guide. Network Educational Press: Stafford.
Development of neuroscience suggests there Tatum, B.C. (2010) Accelerated education: Learning on the Fast
should be more emphasis on comprehension and Track. Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching, 3, 34-50.
learning how to learn.

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Printed: December 2013