learn-co.de
Articles

The thinking behind the site

learn-co.de is built on a few decades of learning research — spaced practice, retrieval, interleaving and the simple idea that you learn to code by coding. Here's some of it, in plain English.

A line graph of memory falling steeply over time, with later review points lifting it back up.
Spaced learning
The forgetting curve, and how we fight it

More than a century ago, Hermann Ebbinghaus sat down to memorise nonsense syllables and discovered something every teacher feels in their bones: we forget fast, and then we keep forgetting.

5 min read
An illustration of an idea being drawn out of a head, rather than poured into it.
Retrieval practice
Retrieval practice: why being tested helps you remember

It feels productive to re-read your notes. It feels uncomfortable to close the book and try to recall them. The uncomfortable one is the one that works.

4 min read
Study sessions spaced out along a timeline versus a single dense block of cramming.
Spaced learning
The spacing effect: why little and often beats cramming

Take the same hour of study and chop it into four short sessions across a fortnight, and you'll remember more than if you'd spent the whole hour at once. Nobody quite believes this until they try it.

5 min read
Coloured blocks arranged in mixed order rather than sorted into neat single-colour groups.
Interleaving
Interleaving: why mixing topics builds deeper understanding

Blocked practice — ten of the same kind of problem in a row — looks like mastery in the lesson. Interleaving looks messier and teaches more.

4 min read
Hands at a keyboard with code taking shape, rather than an open textbook.
Active learning
Learning to code by doing, not reading

Watching a worked example feels like learning. The understanding it gives you is real but fragile — it survives right up until the moment you have to write a line yourself.

4 min read