The Learning Engine

3 April 2025

Newsletter 025: Learning Loops — The Cycles That Drive Knowledge and Skill Development

Greetings and salutations — welcome to another newsletter!

Before we get started on learning loops, I want to share a couple of new (short) courses:

• ​​That's How Learning Works?!?! - Fundamentals for Educators​​
• ​​That's How Learning Works?!?! - Fundamentals for ​Coaches​

These courses will give you the fundamentals for learning, plus provide a challenge for your to bring the ideas into your context. Both courses have about an hour’s worth of videos, with a workbook for questions and the challenge. I truly believe that deeply understanding the way learning works will take your work to the next level, making you better at what you do!

Now — onto learning loops!

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Ideas

Have you ever noticed how learning seems to happen in cycles?

We try something, reflect on the outcome, adjust our approach, and try again. This cyclical process is how we learn, acquiring and refining sets of knowledge and skills. One name for the cyclical process is learning loop — this newsletter will discuss three learning loops, starting simply and becoming more complex.

Learning Loop #1 — Do / Think

The simplest learning loop is the Do / Think loop.

Starting from either side, this basic cycle is the foundation for learning:

• Do — Take action in some way (mental, emotional, physical, or some combination).
• Think — Analyze outcomes, reflecting on what happened and considering alternative actions.
• Repeat — Take more action, using the reflection to guide the new action.

The beauty of this learning loop is the simplicity. Beginning at a very young age and continuing throughout our entire lives, we use this learning loop to explore and learn about our environment. By keeping the phrases Do and Think very broad, we can apply this learning loop to any situation.

Learning Loop #2 — Purposeful Application / Model for a Concept

The second learning loop extends the Do / Think learning loop, increasing the complexity.

Do is replaced by Purposeful Application; Think is replaced by Model for a Concept.

Starting from either side, this cycle continues between the two sides:

• Purposeful Application — Take action in a meaningful way (mental, emotional, physical, or some combination), with an intent to test a model for a concept.
• Model for a Concept — A set of knowledge and skills for a topic, which explains the topic and predicts outcomes for the topic.
• Repeat — Continue to test the model for a concept through purposeful application, refining the model for a concept through the learning loop.

This learning loop adds specifics. To test specific sets of knowledge and skills to see what we think we know, we need to be intentional with our actions — this is the phrase Purposeful Application. The work by your brain through thinking creates and changes the knowledge and skills you know — the sets of knowledge and skills are in a Model for a Concept.

The increased complexity in this learning loop leads us to a few questions: How are we using Purposeful Application? What are the knowledge and skills in the Model for a Concept? Answering these two questions can help us create learning plans, resulting in efficient and effective learning.

Learning Loop #3: Belcher’s Model for Learning

The third learning loop extends the Purposeful Application / Model for a Concept learning loop, continuing to add more complexity.

[For a much deeper discussion about the entire Model for Learning, read this essay: That’s How Learning Works?!?! A Comprehensive Model for Understanding the Learning Process.]

There are a few different starting places — Sensing and Focusing, Working Memory, or feedback from Practicing and Performing — depending on the situation, with the cycle continuing through each part:

• Inputs to the body and brain —Sensing and Focusing + Feedback from Practicing and Performing
• Processing (in the brain’s Working Memory) — Inputs + Models for Concepts in Long-Term Memory
• Output with the brain and body —Practicing and Performing

Belcher’s Model for Learning adds complexity by extending the second learning loop, with more detail for the input, processing, and output. Having more detail allows the learner or leader to understand specific issues the learner is having: Are the learner’s senses working properly? Is the learner’s working memory being overloaded? What knowledge and skills are in specific models for concepts? How is the learner using practice and performance to test the models for concepts? Finding answers to these questions — and many more detailed questions — helps create learning plans, again resulting in efficient and effective learning.

The Power of Learning Loops

All three learning loops share important characteristics:

1. Cyclical: The learning process is iterative, with each cycle through a learning loop building on the previous cycle.
2. Action-oriented: All learning requires doing, which provides feedback to the rest of the learning loop.
3. Reflection: The learner must think about the explanations and predictions from their model for a concept, then refine those explanations and prediction.
4. Feedback: Each part of the learning loop gives feedback for the other part(s), causing the learning loop to cycle.
5. Refining: Each cycle through a learning loop modifies the knowledge and skills in a model for a concept — which is learning!

If we are serious about learning efficiently and effectively, the idea of learning loops can help. How is the learner thinking? How is the learner taking action? By using learning loops with the right amount of complexity, we can structure learning plans for efficient and effective learning.

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Stories

I’ve noticed the idea of learning loops in my life; here are a couple of stories.

Story 1: One story comes from my young daughter — she is learning how to walk on a balance beam. My daughter takes a few steps on the beam, then pauses to gather herself. This pause creates space to analyze the outcome of the previous steps, reflecting on any wobbles and considering different ways to balance. After performing the thinking, she continues with more steps — repeating the process to become better at walking on a balance beam. My daughter has completed about 10 gymnastics sessions at this point, with a large improvement from the start until now. Seeing the improvement is amazing!

Story 2: Another story comes from golf, specifically golf practice. A major part of practice is taking time to reflect, which can be a problem when practicing golf shots. The natural tendency is to hit a ball, then immediately grab another ball — sometimes not even watching the ball in the air hit the ground! Taking action is great, but this is only part of the learning loops. Using the other parts of the learning loop by taking time to think about each part of the previous shot (swing, contact, ball flight, and others) makes the practice much more effective. Thinking allows you to modify the knowledge and skills in your models for golf concepts from the outcomes in the previous shot, plus makes explain and predict the next shot. By using the idea of a learning loop in my own golfing journey, I’m continuing to get better at the game.

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Questions

1. Which learning loop resonates most with you?
2. How have you used learning loops in your personal or professional context?
3. When you're learning something new, which do you try first: Action or thinking? How might balancing these approaches improve your learning?
4. How could you modify your current learning practices with the idea of learning loops?
5. As a coach or educator, how can the idea of learning loops help your learners?
6. Can you identify a time when your learning stalled because one part of a learning loop was missing or weak? What would have improved the situation?
7. How could you use learning loops to create effective learning plans?

Learning happens when we share what we are thinking, so I would love to hear your answers! Also, you can use these questions as conversations starters with friends and family — hearing their answers and having a conversation would be great!

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If this newsletter resonated with you, please share on the socials and with someone who you think would also benefit; I would greatly appreciate any help in spreading these ideas!

Thanks for reading this newsletter — and all the best!

Nathan

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