Joe Liemandt

Then as you get into cognitive load theory, which is here's the way to think about that is simplification.

And you have working memory slots.

Every person has a certain number of chunks that you can work on or registers on a CPU if you're a technical person.

When you're doing that, that's when you're computing, i.e.

thinking.

What is seven times eight?

And I'm calculating what that is.

Then the second part of it is, how many reps does it take to take what's in working memory and put it into long-term memory so you remember it forever?

And there's a certain number, and actually people are different.

GT kids need fewer reps than other kids.

But fundamentally, it's how many reps you need to put it in.

And there's a whole concept of spaced repetition, which is if you space them out over time, you retain it for longer.

This is the I cram versus do you remember it.

We have a workshop with the kids where if you actually take kids and say, okay, you're going to do vocabulary words 10 minutes a day, every day.

On Friday, here's your test score.

We have another group that then volunteers and they're like, no, no, no, I'm going to cram the night before.

They cram the night before and then they take the test and they basically get about the same test and say, like, see, cramming works.

We then retest them a week later.

And the cram kids don't remember anything.

And the people who've done it 10 minutes a day all remember it.