Practice is when someone does the same thing over and over again to improve a performance. Practice has little transferability. Rehearsal is when someone does something again in a similar but not identical way so that what was learned is reinforced while something new is added. New additions increase the likelihood that the knowledge being learned is not learned as something that is task specific. Non-task specific experiences increase the likelihood that the knowledge will be transferable and useful to the individual in a variety of ways.
Rehearsals strengthen the connections among the storage areas within brain systems.
If connections are not strengthened, they will disengage and fade away. It is important to note that each challenge is consistent with a fundamental set of powerful scientific ideas that are reexperienced through activity variations that reinforce prior experiences and add aspects that improve transferability and deepen understandings. And each experience enables students to construct knowledge on their own, in their own way. With so much explicit knowledge available about how the brain works and with data so clearly supportive of the fact that students construct knowledge for themselves, it is surprising that textbooks, even though they use the language of change, have not changed the way they present content and activities. All material on this server copyright 1995-97 by the Regents of the University of California.