Why It’s So Important to Actively Work Out Problems, Not Just Consume Content, During the Learning Process

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Learning is a positive change in long-term memory (LTM). The way that happens is by practicing the act of pulling fuzzy info from LTM into working memory (WM), i.e., retrieval practice.

Reading without solving problems can produce an artificial feeling of fluency while the info is held and manipulated in WM, but since retrieval practice is not occurring to extend the info’s retention, the info dissipates quickly.

Additionally, learners typically do not process all the key info as they read, but they are unaware of this until they attempt to solve a problem that requires them to retrieve some key info from memory. At that point, they realize that they never fully processed that piece of info to begin with, and they have to go back to find and properly process it.

The same applies to generalization: learners typically do not fully generalize what they’ve read, but they are unaware until they attempt to solve problems that require them to generalize their understanding.

The specific number of problems needed will depend on many factors including

• how thoroughly the learner processed and generalized the information to begin with,
• how quickly they forget the information, and
• how comprehensive the problems are.

(Asking how many problems a student should solve on a topic is kind of like asking how many slices of pizza a person should eat. It depends on the person and the pizza.)

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