How people learn
The teaching approaches Grizlet uses, and the principles of learning behind them.
Every use case in Grizlet is built on one of nine proven teaching approaches. You don't need to know the theory to use them. Knowing why they work helps you adapt an outline without breaking it. This page explains each approach in plain words, followed by the principles they share.
The nine approaches
Nine events of instruction (Gagné)
In Grizlet: Explain a topic
Robert Gagné described the steps a good lesson goes through: get attention, say what people will be able to do, connect to what they already know, present the content, guide them, let them practise, give feedback, check, and help them use it later. Skipping a step is the usual reason a lesson feels flat. The most often skipped are the hook at the start and the practice at the end.
Use it for new knowledge: a product, a policy, a change. It's the safe default. Don't use it when people already know the facts and need to apply them. Choose a scenario or a problem instead.
First principles of instruction (Merrill)
In Grizlet: Solve a real problem
David Merrill found that people learn best when the lesson revolves around a real task. They first try it with what they already know, then see how an expert does it, then apply it to a new case, and finally think about where they'll use it. The task comes first and the theory serves it.
Use it for experienced people and practical skills. Don't use it for complete beginners with no prior knowledge to build on: give them a worked example first.
Scenario-based learning (Action Mapping)
In Grizlet: Practise decisions
Cathy Moore's Action Mapping starts from what people should do differently and builds practice of exactly those decisions. Learners face a realistic situation, choose what to do and see the consequences of their choice. Making a mistake in a lesson is safe and memorable, and much cheaper than making it with a real customer.
Use it for behaviour: sales, customer service, compliance, leadership, difficult conversations. It's the strongest approach when "knowing the rule" isn't enough.
5E inquiry model
In Grizlet: Explore first
Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate. People first guess or explore, and only then get the explanation. A guess, even a wrong one, creates curiosity and a "hook" in memory for the right answer.
Use it when the facts are surprising or intuition is often wrong. Wrong guesses are part of the design here, so put the guessing in a poll or say kindly in the explanation that most people guess wrong.
Misconception-based learning
In Grizlet: Bust myths
Wrong beliefs don't disappear just because people hear the right information. They need to see the belief named, see why it's wrong and get a better explanation in its place. "Myth or fact?" questions make people commit to an answer first, which makes the correction stick.
Use it for safety, health, IT security, and rumours around a change.
Experiential learning (Kolb)
In Grizlet: Reflect & build a habit
David Kolb's cycle: a concrete experience, reflection on it, an idea or model that explains it, and a small experiment to try. People learn soft skills from their own experience, not from definitions.
Use it for feedback, leading people, wellbeing and habits. These lessons have little or no scoring: there's no single right answer to "how did it feel?"
Performance support (job aid)
In Grizlet: Step-by-step how-to
Some things don't need to be memorised, just done correctly when needed. A job aid is a short, clear procedure people come back to: one step per card and a checklist at the end.
Use it for procedures, tools and onboarding steps. Keep it short and practical, and send people the link again when they need it.
Storytelling and case study
In Grizlet: Tell a story
People remember stories much better than rules. A character people recognise, a situation with something at stake and a turning point show why a value or rule exists better than any list.
Use it for values, culture, ethics and the reasons behind rules. Use real stories from the company whenever you can.
Retrieval practice and spacing
In Grizlet: Review & recall
Recalling something from memory strengthens it far more than reading it again. This is the testing effect. And recall works best with gaps of days or weeks in between, the spacing effect. A short review lesson that is almost only questions, sent a few days after the main one, is one of the most effective things you can do.
Use it as a follow-up to a workshop, a course or a longer series, ideally in a sequence.
Principles behind every approach
Active beats passive
People learn by doing something with the content: answering, sorting, deciding, writing. Reading alone is the weakest way to learn. Add an interactive card every 3–5 cards.
One idea at a time
Working memory holds only a few things at once. A card with three ideas leaves people with none. One idea per card, one goal per lesson. See Writing cards.
Concrete before abstract
A real example ("Jana from support got this email…") makes a principle understandable. Show the example first, then name the rule, or put both on the same card.
Show, then ask
A worked example (how an expert solves the task, step by step) before an exercise makes it much easier for beginners. Experienced people can try first and see the solution afterwards.
Immediate, explained feedback
Grizlet shows right away whether an answer is right. What turns that into learning is the comment: why the right answer is right and why the tempting wrong one isn't. See Explain every answer.
Useful difficulty
Learning that feels a little effortful, such as recalling instead of rereading, mixing topics, or applying a rule in a new situation, lasts longer. Questions that are too easy check nothing. Questions that are unclear or tricky only frustrate people. The difficulty should come from thinking, not from decoding the question.
Mix it up (interleaving)
In review lessons, mix topics instead of grouping all questions on one topic together. People then have to recognise which rule applies, which is exactly what they need at work.
Transfer to work
Learning that stays in the lesson is wasted. End with what to do at work: a checklist for tomorrow, a small experiment for this week, or a form asking where they'll use it.
Spacing over time
People forget most new information within days unless they recall it. Plan a topic as a series: the main lesson, a short review two or three days later, a scenario a week later. Sequences send them automatically.