SciCo works by keeping the user actively engaged in the learning process. Student attention tends to drift during classroom lectures and while reading textbooks. To work with SciCo, the student has to participate, decipher meaning and pay attention to the logic of the topic.  Once a student has made sense of the ideas they generally have much greater retention of the topic and as a bonus, the student also develops a stronger vocabulary and reading skills.

For many students, lectures and textbooks develop passive intellectual skills. Ideas are often memorized and regurgitated by rote with little or no higher level thought. SciCo attempts to get students to make connections between ideas and to understand the links between ideas.

          A jigsaw puzzle serves as an analogy. Rote learning is similar to looking at jigsaw pieces one by one without making an attempt to connect them together. As you keep looking at more pieces the memory of earlier pieces fades as new pieces are added to a disorganized pile.  Connection or assembly learning takes the time to connect the puzzle pieces together. As more pieces are added an overall picture is created.  As the picture becomes clearer, new puzzle pieces fit faster, details of old pieces are not forgotten, missing pieces of the puzzle are readily identified and their appearance can even be hypothesized.

One of the most painful processes of education is the testing.  It is so ubiquitous that we assume that it is a necessary part of the whole.  And yet, it is the testing that poisons so many experiences. I've had students who 'loved' my science classes, never having enjoyed science before  - up until that first test. Tests produce road blocks to students who want to learn but are defeated by lack of performance.  

          The need to test also develops some unwanted consequences. Subjects are sometimes modified, not for increased relevance, but so that they will be easier to test.  Chemistry courses often emphasize formulas, mole problems, equilibrium problems because they are easy to teach and it is easy to design and mark test questions. At the same time, theory, lab procedures, and science processes are deemphasized because they are difficult to teach and test.  

The process of SciCo can actually change the way progress is evaluated.  SciCo turns learning itself into the evaluation, gauging progress by how a student does on each progressive topic. In addition, evaluation is more in the control of the user who can repeat topics until they are satisfied with their results. Puzzle solving can be much more rewarding than learning by rote, and in the same way that people seek out crosswords and Sudoku some students get engaged with SciCo, enjoying the problem solving and getting the bonus of learning something useful.