Habit Mechanics

Gm 👋

Weekend’s nearly here, s’gonna be great. BUT FIRST…

Big idea 🍉

If we want to change student (or our own) behaviour in a lasting way, we need to use process goals alongside performance goals. But why exactly are process goals so effective?

Well, process goals are an important part of habit formation, and habits are super powerful when it comes to improvement. We run most of our lives on habit (way more than we would like to think), and so when can change our habits, we change how we operate... in ways that stick.

Also: when a desired behaviour becomes habitual, it requires us to give it less attention and thought. This matters because our attention is limited. By reducing the cognitive demands of how to act, we free up student bandwidth for higher-value tasks, such as attending to the curriculum itself.

Process goals + habit formation leads to several benefits:

1. It makes it easier and more likely for our students to do the desired thing.

2. It enables students to focus less on the process of learning and more on the content of learning.

3. It creates a safe and familiar environment, which is appreciated by more vulnerable students.

4. It frees up our attentional bandwidth as teachers, so we can better monitor the classroom and be responsive.

Process goals matter not because outcomes are unimportant, but because habits are how improvement is sustained over time. Together, they form the engine room of long-term change.

🎓 For more, check out this paper on the power of study habits.

Summary

• We run our lives (and learning) largely on habit.

• Process goals are powerful because they support habit formation.

• Process goals redeploy attention, create a safer environment, and help us to be more responsive.

Little updates 🥕

• Longitudinal study of class-average achievement → suggests high-achieving classes do not raise achievement and can lower students’ confidence.

• Paper comparing ways students use concept maps & summaries → reveals that making your own map first, then discussing it, leads to deeper talk and better memory.

• Commentary on learning from evolutionary perspective → argues that teaching works better when instruction adapts to learners’ knowledge, goals, and motivation.

• Preprint RCT of a programme to boost student engagement → finds better classroom culture, higher maths achievement, and lower teacher burnout, suggesting low-cost gains.

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