Setting The Record Straight On How We Learn | Holly Korbey — The Reading Symphony

In this episode of The Reading Symphony Podcast...

Katie talks with Holly Korbey, education journalist and author, about the science of learning and what parents and teachers need to understand about how children learn, remember, and develop essential academic skills.

Together, they explore working memory, cognitive load, background knowledge, retrieval practice, and why explicit instruction is so effective. They also discuss the Science of Reading, effective study strategies, writing instruction, knowledge-rich curriculum, and how evidence-based teaching practices can help students become more confident and successful learners.

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👤 About Holly Korbey

Holly Korbey is an education journalist, author, speaker, and creator of The Bell Ringer newsletter, where she explores the science of learning and its implications for education.

Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Edutopia, and MIT Technology Review, among other publications. Through her writing and reporting, Holly helps parents, teachers, and education leaders better understand research on how children learn and how evidence-based instructional practices can improve learning outcomes.

🔗 Holly’s links:

Newsletter: https://thebellringer.substack.com/

Website: https://hollykorbey.com/

X/Twitter: https://x.com/hollykorbey

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/holly-korbey-21617331/

Chapters:

00:00 – Why the Public Needs to Understand How Learning Works

00:43 – Meet Holly Korbey: Education Journalist & Author

05:00 – Why Holly Asked to Speak on Podcasts About Education

06:00 – “We Need to Understand How Humans Learn”

07:20 – Science of Reading vs. Science of Learning

10:40 – What Cognitive Load Theory Actually Means