Drill-based learning

Drill-based learning is an approach that emphasizes the repeated practice of specific tasks or questions that have a distinct correct or incorrect performance. Through repeated practice and feedback on performance, a learner is expected to improve their skill with answering questions or performing tasks.

Definition

Drill-based learning is when the learner performs specific, repeated tasks over a sustained duration. The learner often receives feedback on their performance so that they may alter their actions on the next practice round.

Drill-based learning aids with memorization of information and procedures so that they may be readily used when needed.

Additional Information

For drill to be effective, there needs to be a specific correct output or solution for completing the tasks of the drill - there is always a very well defined "right answer". This allows the person to repeatedly practice the same tasks multiple times over a period of time and immediately know if they succeeded each time or not.

Drill-based learning uses direct instruction, which dictates what a person must learn, how to complete the drill task, and what the quality of their performance was. There is little to no choice or variation for the learner on how to perform the tasks - being highly procedural and defined processes are what define drill-based learning's ability to help people master specific tasks.

Drill-based learning is common in content-based learning and teacher-centered learning approaches. Although this approach requires learners to actively participate and perform tasks, it can be used in active learning contexts. However, it is more frequently accompanied by passive learning approaches that emphasize remembering information.

Drill-based learning is a classic form of learning that has been around as long as people have been learning in an organized way, all the way back to ancient times. Modern disciplines frequently use drill-based learning when memorizing facts and skills is necessary, such as in literacy, language arts, history, mathematics, and other disciplines that require learners to understand specific conceptual definitions and facts. Drill-based learning emphasizes the reciting of facts, information, and clearly defined procedures.

Situations where drill-based learning is useful

Drill-based learning has been regularly demonstrated to be useful when the learning goal is the ability to recite or recall information, or the ability to perform a well-specified procedure or sequence of tasks. This memorization is accomplished through repeated practice of the procedure, or repeated exposure to and use of the information being studied.

In the most common approach to drill-based learning, people memorize specific definitions, terms, or information through:

• Repeated exposure and increased familiarity with information (e.g., flash cards, reading documents multiple times, watching videos repeatedly)
• Repeated use of information (e.g., multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, open answer, matching, and true/false testing and quizzes)

Learners can also practice specifically defined skills repeatedly in drill-based learning:

• Repetition of step-by-step processes to complete a task or solve a problem, in which the steps are the same each time, but with different information (e.g., solving a defined math problem, how to program a computer how to do things, correctly performing basic techniques with an artist's brush)

When performing skills with drill-based learning, an essential component is the completion of very specific tasks with which a correct output or solution is defined.

Military contexts have learning frequently use drill methods or repeated practice of well defined tasks, such as field marching and combat readiness drills that are focused on training soldiers through repeated activity in which there is a defined, single correct way of doing something.

In a similar way, math disciplines frequently use problems that require a learner to follow a very specific procedure or algorithm to generate a solution (e.g., solving "4 x 5 = ?" requires a person to use the procedure of multiplication to generate a solution, and the answer is always 20).

In another example, repeated physical motions or hand-eye coordination skills can be repeatedly practice through drilling. Sports training is a good example in which a person will repeatedly practice the motions and actions associated with sport activity. The learner will often repeat a task so many times through practice that it becomes almost second nature or instinct for them.

Challenges with drill-based learning

Drill-based learning works best when there are discrete answers, or that there are clearly defined and correct solutions to the tasks that people do. This method does not do as well when dealing with open-ended projects that have no clear solution or an outcome that is not defined. As such, if there is no clear feedback on whether performance was "good" or "wrong", it is hard for the learner to try again rapidly after the previous attempt.

Indeed, a person practices in any task they do over their career - there is always room to try again, or even work on new projects. However, practice fails to be drill when the person cannot repeatedly practice tasks in a short time frame due to not having a clearly defined review of their performance as soon as they finished. In drill, a person knows immediately whether they did it correctly or not - either through a person evaluating the performance or through some kind of standard or guide (like a test grading key, for instance). With open-ended learning approaches, such as in student-centered learning, the answers are not immediately evident and no "correct" answer may even exist, and drill methods become far less effective.

Additionally, the drill approach does not function as well when there are multiple definitions, ways of understanding, and various perspectives with complex topics and abstract ideas. Because complex concepts can have many different correct or possible ways of understanding and defining the concept, it is difficult to perform drill activities on whether you have correctly identified or recited information.

Additionally, the learning activities in drill do not lend well to the authenticity of the activity, as people rarely encounter drill-type activities in real world contexts. Similarly, because drill-type learning is very much a direct instruction method, learners are instructed to "do what you're told" and thus removes any learner-centeredness from the activity. If a learner-centered approach is a focus of the experience, then drill methods may not be an effective learning activity.

Tips and Tricks

• Drills can be a useful method if you have specific information or step-by-step procedures that need to be learned AND that that they can be practiced in a way that always has a correct answer or solution. The benefits of drill is the repeated practice over multiple rounds. Effective drill must have the ability to inform a person whether they did the task correctly or not, even if this is evaluated by the learner themselves.
• Consider the activities that you have learners doing repetitively to learn and whether this aligns with any learner-centered goals that you have for the learning product. Drill-based learning and learner-centered approaches are not fully incompatible, as practice can be useful when the tasks are discrete and well defined. However, drill-based learning is a common trait of passive learning and content-centered learning, so it is useful to be aware of how your activities align with your commitments to active learning, as well.

Related Concepts

• Direct instruction
• Practice
• Active learning
• Passive learning
• Content-focused learning
• Teacher-centered learning
• Student-centered learning
• Authenticity of learning

Examples

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