A Psychological Foundation for Team-Based Learning: Knowledge Reconsolidation

Although team-based learning is a popular instructional approach, little is known about its psychological foundation. In this Perspective, the authors propose a theoretical account of the psychological mechanisms through which team-based learning works. They suggest a knowledge reconsolidation hypothesis to explain how the distinct phases of team-based learning enable students to learn. Knowledge reconsolidation is the process whereby previously consolidated knowledge is retrieved from memory with the purpose of actively consolidating it again. Reconsolidation aims to preserve, strengthen, and adjust knowledge that is already stored in long-term memory. This process is generally considered an important reason why people who reactivate what they have previously learned many times develop knowledge structures that are extremely stable and easily retrieved.

The authors propose that 4 psychological mechanisms enable knowledge reconsolidation, each of which is tied to a distinct phase of team-based learning: retrieval practice, peer elaboration, feedback, and transfer of learning. Before a team-based learning session, students engage in independent, self-directed learning that is often followed by at least one night of sleep. The latter is known to facilitate synaptic consolidation in the brain. During the actual team-based learning session, students are first tested individually on what they learned, then they discuss the answers to the test with a small group of peers, ask remaining “burning questions” to the teacher, and finally engage in a number of application exercises.

This knowledge reconsolidation hypothesis may be considered a framework to guide future research into how team-based learning works and its outcomes.