What if the humble flashcard could help students do more than memorize vocabulary? What if it could help them practice math, learn guitar, or even become more aware of how their own brains learn?
I sat down with Andrew Cohen, founder and CEO of Brainscape, to explore what makes flashcards such powerful learning tools—and why there's so much more to them than a question on one side and an answer on the other.
We talked about the science of retrieval practice, metacognition, and spaced repetition; the surprising ways flashcards can help students practice skills; and what Brainscape's data suggests about AI-generated study materials.
But our conversation also led to a bigger question: If we know so much about how learning works, why aren't we explicitly teaching more students how to study?
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Flashcards Are Just One Piece of the Learning Puzzle
A flashcard seems like such a simple study tool. A question on one side, an answer on the other. But once you understand the learning science underneath it, flashcards become part of something much bigger.
One of my favorite moments in this conversation was when Andrew described using flashcards to practice guitar.
Guitar! With flashcards!
Instead of memorizing musical terms, he uses each card to remind himself which exercises to practice and when to revisit skills that need more work. We also talked about math teachers who combine digital flashcards with whiteboards so students can solve problems, check their work, and evaluate their understanding.
These examples illustrate something I emphasize in the Anti-Boring Learning Lab: effective studying isn't about collecting disconnected tips and tricks. It's about understanding how different strategies work together.
Take our Study Cycle, for example. Students first need to engage with and make sense of new information. Our Get It Down + Hone It approach helps them move from collecting notes to processing and organizing what they've learned. From there, they can create quizzable study tools, like flashcards, and use retrieval practice to strengthen their learning over time.
But what happens when students keep getting a flashcard wrong?
Maybe they need to revisit the original explanation, draw a diagram, or find a different way to encode the information before trying to retrieve it again. Understanding working memory and cognitive load can help us recognize when students need a different approach.
And sometimes the most effective strategy combines analog and digital tools. A student might work through a problem on a whiteboard, photograph the solution, and turn it into a digital flashcard for future practice.
The point isn't just knowing which study strategies work. It's knowing how they fit together, when to use them, and how to help students use them independently.
That's the kind of thinking we develop inside the Anti-Boring Learning Lab. We connect the science of learning with practical teaching and coaching strategies so educators can make more intentional decisions about how to support their students.
Because students are constantly told to "study." But the adults working with them aren't always given the training they need to teach students what effective studying actually looks like.
Want to Go Beyond Giving Students Study Tips?
If you're an academic coach, tutor, or educator who wants to help students become more independent learners, the Anti-Boring Learning Lab is where we put the pieces together.
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Questions This Episode Answers
Can flashcards help students learn skills, not just memorize facts?
Absolutely! Andrew shares how he uses flashcards to guide his guitar practice and how math teachers pair digital flashcards with whiteboards to help students solve problems. Flashcards can support practicing skills, explaining concepts, and applying knowledge—not just recalling definitions.
What makes flashcards effective for learning?
Three principles: active recall, metacognition, and spaced repetition. Students retrieve information, evaluate how well they know it, and revisit challenging material over time. The goal is to move beyond familiarity toward genuine recall.
What makes a good flashcard question?
It depends on the learning objective. Some cards work best with one small concept, while others can ask students to explain an entire process. Andrew suggests that students benefit from studying well-designed flashcards before creating their own.
Does using AI to create flashcards actually help students learn?
AI saves time, but students still need to do the learning. Andrew shares Brainscape data showing that users who generated flashcards with AI studied them less than users who made their own digitally. This observation doesn't prove that AI caused the difference, but it raises an important question about the relationship between creating study materials and actually studying them.
Are paper flashcards still useful?
Definitely! Paper cards work well for smaller amounts of material, while digital tools can help manage larger sets through spaced repetition. Gretchen and Andrew also explore combining whiteboards, drawings, and digital flashcards.
Why aren't more schools teaching students how to study?
Andrew suggests that "nobody owns the problem." Teachers expect students to study, but students aren't always explicitly taught what effective studying involves. Gretchen and Andrew discuss why helping students become independent learners requires more than simply telling them to study.
About Andrew Cohen
Andrew Cohen is the founder and CEO of Brainscape, a web and mobile flashcard platform designed to help people study more effectively using principles from cognitive science.
Before founding Brainscape, Andrew worked as an international economist with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, an eLearning curriculum developer with Satori Consulting and the United Nations, and on anti-corruption initiatives at the World Bank.
He holds a master's degree in Instructional Technology from Columbia University and is passionate about applying cognitive science to improve how people learn.
Links + Resources
Andrew Cohen – Brainscape
Visit Brainscape for digital flashcards and smarter studying.
Explore Brainscape Academy for study tips and flashcard resources.
Explore Brainscape Academy's resources on creating effective flashcards and planning study time before an exam.
Learn More About the Anti-Boring Learning Lab
Free Toolkit: https://antiboringlearninglab.com/resources
Gretchen's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gretchen-wegner
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