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Six Strategies for Effective Learning: A Summary for Teachers

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Six Strategies for Effective Learning: A Summary for Teachers

By Megan Sumeracki

If you read our blog often, you are familiar with the six strategies for effective learning. We have a number of resources already, but this guide provides a brief explanation of each strategy and compiles a set of links on the website all in one place. So, if you’re wanting a single reference or to share one starter blog with a colleague, we hope this will work for you!

Introduction

Cognitive psychologists have identified six key strategies that promote learning in many situations, and this research can be implemented to promote long-term durable learning. These six strategies have been heavily investigated for decades, and there is a lot of evidence to suggest their effectiveness in a variety of situations.

Before digging into the specifics of each strategy, it is important to note that they are very flexible. This is a good thing, in that it means they can be used in a lot of different situations. However, this also means that there really isn’t a specific prescription we can provide that will “always work.” Instead, understanding the strategies and how they work can help instructors and students. Instructors can implement them in their classrooms in ways that will foster student learning that works best for their classroom, and students can infuse their study sessions with these strategies in a way that will promote long-term learning. There are also countless ways that the strategies can be combined to be used together. For example, teaching one another often uses all 6!

The strategies

Spacing or spreading out learning opportunities over time improves learning. For example, students will learn and retain more if they study 30 minutes M-F, rather than for 2.5 hours all on one day. Students should create a schedule with brief study sessions each day and stick to it. Blocking off time works best because it is easy to procrastinate when an exam is not upcoming. It is also beneficial to spread out the topics being studied so that there is a space between the repetition of the same ideas. In class, instructors can repeat the most important concepts in multiple classes; the spaced repetition really helps!

Interleaving basically means jumbling up ideas. Students learn more when they can switch between different topics. Doing this helps students learn the similarities and differences between different ideas. In math, for example, students learn more when they solve many different types of problems during practice rather than solving the same type over and over. This typically leads to more mistakes during practice, but in the long-run, the students retain their knowledge much longer.

Retrieval practice involves bringing information to mind from memory. This happens when students take practice tests or quizzes, but it can be done in other ways too. For example, students can just write out what they can remember on a blank sheet of paper, or even draw ideas. The key is that they should bring the information to mind from memory. So, copying one’s notes would not be very helpful, but trying to summarize their notes from their memory would be very beneficial. The students do not need to remember everything and can check their notes or course materials after retrieval to fill in gaps. In the classroom, instructors can utilize frequent low-stakes or no-stakes quizzes, and ask students to jot down what they can remember about topics in the classroom (not necessarily to be collected).

Concrete examples are often used by instructors. Concrete information is easier to remember than abstract information, and so concrete examples foster learning. Importantly, research shows that multiple examples of the same idea, especially with different surface details, helps students understand the true idea the example is intending to illustrate. This is because novices tend to remember surface details. Imagine teaching about scarcity and using airline tickets as an example. Students later may remember scarcity was about flying, but not the rest. Using other examples that have nothing to do with tickets (e.g., water during a drought) and making the link between the examples explicit for the students helps them understand the underlying abstract idea.

Elaboration involves asking “how” and “why” questions about a specific topic, and then trying to find the answers to those questions. The act of trying to describe and explain how and why things work helps students understand and learn. Students can also explain how the topics relate to their own lives, or take two topics and explain how they are similar and how they are different. This strategy can be assigned alone or for pairs of students.

Dual coding is all about combining verbal representations of information (words) with visual representations of information (pictures/diagrams). When we combine these, it is easier for us to understand the information being presented. Importantly, this is not the same thing as learning styles. While students do have preferences, matching these preferences does not help them learn. Instead, we all learn best when we have multiple representations of the same idea. Importantly, make sure the students have enough time to digest both representations. When students are studying, they should use multiple representations and try to explain to themselves how the different representations show the same idea.

A note about difficulty

Importantly, all of these strategies have a couple of very important things in common:

  • They are all difficult. The research consistently shows that this difficulty is a good thing; the strategies that feel easy are the ones that do not promote learning in the long-run.

  • They all promote long-term learning. This is important to remember. Often when using the strategies, it feels to students (and instructors) as though they are not promoting learning. This is probably due to the difficulty. However, the research shows us that, in the long-term (even 1-2 days later), these strategies work very well. Conversely, the strategies that feel easy and feel as though we “really know it” promote “learning” that is almost immediately forgotten (even by the next day).

Keep this in mind when implementing the strategies, and highlight these points for the students. While we make judgments about what we think we are learning in the moment, what we really care about is what we can remember and apply in the future. The strategies should feel difficult, but not so difficult that the students cannot actually do them. This is where flexibility comes in, and adjustments can be made so that the students are challenged and not getting everything perfectly right, but are still somewhat successful.

Additional resources from the website

You can use in your teaching, or give them to students.

What’s Going On in This Picture? | Dec. 2, 2019

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What’s Going On in This Picture? | Dec. 2, 2019

Students

1. After looking closely at the image above (or at the full-size image), think about these three questions:

2. Next, join the conversation by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box that opens on the right. (Students 13 and older are invited to comment, although teachers of younger students are welcome to post what their students have to say.)

3. After you have posted, try reading back to see what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting another comment. Use the “Reply” button or the @ symbol to address that student directly.

Each Monday, our collaborator, Visual Thinking Strategies, will facilitate a discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time by paraphrasing comments and linking to responses to help students’ understanding go deeper. You might use their responses as models for your own.

4. On Thursday afternoons, we will reveal at the bottom of this post more information about the photo. How does reading the caption and learning its back story help you see the image differently?

Weekly News Quiz for Students: Impeachment Testimony, C.D.C. Warning, Word of the Year

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Weekly News Quiz for Students: Impeachment Testimony, C.D.C. Warning, Word of the Year

Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, testified on Nov. 20 that he was following President Trump’s orders, with the full knowledge of other top administration officials, when he pressured the Ukrainians to conduct investigations into Mr. Trump’s political rivals in what he called a clear “.”

What’s Going On in This Picture? | Nov. 25, 2019

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What’s Going On in This Picture? | Nov. 25, 2019

• Want to make sure you never miss a photo? Add What’s Going On in This Picture? to your Google calendar to receive weekly reminders and see our full publishing schedule for the 2019-20 school year.

Updated: Nov. 27, 2019

This week’s image comes from the Oct. 28, 2019 article “Leaving Prison at 72.” The photo didn’t include any caption, but the article tells the story of what’s going in on this picture. It begins:

In the pink-walled dormitory of the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women, nearly all of the inmates had risen before dawn. Some sat on one another’s beds, applying makeup and sipping instant coffee. Geneva Cooley sat alone, having just put on her white uniform for the last time.

For nearly two decades, Ms. Cooley, 72, had assumed she would die in prison. She had been sentenced to life without parole on a slew of drug-related convictions, at a time when drug charges carried that stiff mandatory minimum.

She had accepted her fate. She got her own drug addiction in check, took some two dozen classes and eventually earned a place in the so-called “faith and honor” pink-walled dorm.

As she adjusted to the rhythms of life inside Tutwiler, a new normalcy took hold.

She crocheted and watched the news. And the women around her — many of whom had been convicted of violent crimes, including the rape, torture and murder of a teenage girl — eventually became her friends, people with whom she watched “The Young and the Restless.”

Outside the prison’s walls, an evolution in the criminal justice system was taking shape. Activists had gained momentum across the country as they argued that life sentences without parole for nonviolent drug-related charges were unjust.

In Alabama — where the state’s prisons are overcrowded, understaffed and, according to a federal investigation this year, have “a high level of violence” — lawmakers last year reduced mandatory minimums to include the possibility of parole, motivated in part by the reality that lifetime care for inmates is costly.

Last year, lawyers approached Ms. Cooley and said they wanted to take on her case. They argued that her sentence violated the Eighth Amendment, which protects people from unfair and cruel punishment. The district attorney did not oppose their claim for relief, and a judge reduced her sentence to life with the possibility of parole, which she was granted.

But Ms. Cooley would not let herself believe she would be freed, not until she actually walked out of the prison’s doors. As she waited on that last morning in early October, she could not restrain how eager, but also how anxious, she felt about returning to a world, and family, she had not seen in 17 years.

You can see a photo essay and read more about Geneva Cooley’s story in the original article.

2019 Turkey Awards

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2019 Turkey Awards

Welcome. Welcome to the annual Turkey Awards. Last year’s 2018 Awards were all the rage.  Truly coveted by those in the know, who know, they really shouldn’t be in the e-learning industry. 

In 2018, we also had the Worst Awards (after all, way too many best out there), but for 2019, the Turkey Awards combine the two.  That’s right, the Turkey represents both fine qualities – bad and worst.

Categories

Just as last year, the Turkey Award focuses on systems and marketing spin.

  • Web Conferencing – Will last year’s GoToMeeting win again? 
  • Functions that should retire like that floppy disc you have in your drawer
  • E-Learning Marketing Words – Stand on your Soapbox and Stop the Madness
  • Learning System

Methodology

Absolutely none. I spent the past year, seeing a lot of systems, products, tools; attended a few trade shows (that should be a future category), observed trends of this and that, and whalla, the list. 

Plus, with what is happening everywhere in the world these days, having a smile isn’t such a bad thing is it? Unless, you win one of these awards, than it should be euphoria.

Web Conferencing fleeturkeyfleeturkeyfleeturkey

GoToMeeting  – Last year’s winner, has improved, okay, not really, but the “Mute” which all of us so enjoy, is a default. Most folks, never pay attention and leave “Mute” on, this when you go into a online meeting with GTM, you are usually on “Mute”.  I should note, that I also find the folks I’m trying to talk to, on “mute” too.   Sure, who doesn’t love a good pantomime, but on a web conferencing call?

WebEx  –  The granddaddy of the web conferencing space. They have been around for at least 19 years, and yet, no one ever calls them traditional.  Their features? Traditional.  Their download app thing you have to do? Why, traditional.  I mean, it’s a conspiracy.  Someone reach out to Devin, he’s always looking for one.

Adobe Connect –  Lots of things you can do with it? Yes. Cumbersome? Yes. Once a darling of vendors who used it to show their demos, now? Not so much. In fact, in 2019, I did not see one demo from a vendor on Adobe Connect.  You tell me, is that a good thing?

Blue Jeans  – If I could tell you that there is one web conferencing tool, where every time a vendor (and there are a few) who use this product, never connects, hangs way too long, requires you to download their app, and in the end each of those vendors have to switch over and use the web conferencing tool, I use, then perhaps Blue Jeans is not the right one to buy.

 

winturkeyAnd the Winner is  – Blue Jeans.  The David Bowie video Blue Jeans, is a fine representation of this web conferencing tool.  You recall your 80’s days, thinking the video rocked. Then you watch. And realize, just like the WC tool, you are left hanging around.  To connect to your memories.

Category – Stand on your Soapbox fleeturkeyfleeturkeyfleeturkey

Micro-Learning – Last year, this buzz word made the list, and some folks were surprised it did not win.  Personally a vendor can call their system whatever they want, but there are a few factoids to remember about micro-learning

  • Every system on the entire planet and probably in the universe, since 1998 (ET are you there?) are able to accept and will work with micro-learning courses. 
  • Micro only means short, not that the quality will be good.
  • Micro is based on duration.  Not the person’s learning style and thus, how long it will take them to complete the content
  • Micro is vague, some people say Micro is 10 minutes or less, others say five minutes or three minutes. 
  • True micro should be three minutes maximum and focus on only one key idea to get across to someone.  And you can create mini-micro content too, even at 10 minutes, you can do a TOC. 
  • Lastly, for video micro fans, more data is coming out saying that folks are not even watching the entire video (even at three minutes)

Mobile Learning First –  Here is something that might shock you, but most of the vendors who say their are mobile learning first, do not have an on/off synch in their native apps. A few do not have a mobile app.   And, every system can be seen in a mobile web browser. Now, how it actually looks is another story.  I’m always surprised at the number of vendors whose native apps haven’t been updated in six months or more. If you are mobile first, that would seem to be a good place to start.

Employee Engagement/Development Platforms – The best way to ensure that anyone looking for B2B external, or B2C to avoid your system?  Bring in these words to your marketing pitch.  Perhaps toss in workforce management, that for sure, will get an professional association running – away. 

Traditional –  Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a few pet peeves that rank higher than the planets. 

  • Trade shows that forget that a lot of people can’t have dairy; thus they serve dairy products and their food always has cheese on it – (ahem, ATD)
  • Vendors who still do NOT understand that L&D is different than Training; and yes, Training as a department does exist.  
  • People who drive 55 or 60 in the fast lane.  For some reason, they tend to drive either minivans with lots of stuff that blocks the windows or a Volvo.  Age isn’t a factor, although, I tend to see a lot of people who still follow the 10-2 rule with the steering wheel.
  • Traditional

Vendors love to pitch it, consumers end up picking it up, and then you have those whole traditional spin over and over again.  It only happens in the learning system space, and specifically in the LMS market in the corporate space no less.  Education? Never hear it, even though Blackboard has been around since the late 90’s (as online that is). 

But flip over onto corporate and the floodgates open.  When someone says traditional, they often are referring to Cornerstone, SumTotal, Saba, SuccessFactors and alike.  Or they refer to the fact that people are using their LMS for compliance and required, forgetting that it is not due to the system, rather the person who bought the system.

Is there a time when Traditional is appropriate? Sure.  When you are talking about the holidays and dinner.  Turkey is traditional for Thanksgiving dinner.  Not at a baseball game.

winturkeyAnd the winner is – Traditional!  Timmy the Turkey wants to let you know that the Plymouth rock, is not the real rock the Pilgrims landed on.  Sorry to disappoint. $10 please.

Category – Functionalities to Retire fleeturkeyfleeturkeyfleeturkey

Forums/Discussion Boards – I always bring this up, story wise, because I believe it truly represents why discussion boards and forums from the text standpoint should end.  I had each of these fine items on a web site I built in 1994.  Yes, Mosiac was the browser. IE did not exist.  Netscape was just a few years away.   And yet, in 2019, you will still find a majority of learning systems that have a forum or discussion board or both.  Folks who seek systems often ask for it, but it is outdated.  And premise is totally re-active learning.  I post a thought. You respond. Wow, talk about interactive and engaging.  On the HE side, it is even worse. I, professor, tell you to read some stuff, then post your thoughts on the forum. Others have to respond.  Then you hope your professor does too. 

There is only one word that describes this entire experience.  I’ll leave it to you to figure it out.  A hint – starts with “S”.

Outdated Social Features –  “Facebook like experience,” “Profile with my face on it, and some general information that nobody cares about, except maybe HR – I mean the department I work in – how is that beneficial to learning?”, “blog” and “wiki”.   I often note that Instagram is massively popular, Tik-Tok is popular and how many systems offer those type of experiences in their system?  Better yet, how many can API to that?  I can count on one hand, how many.  If you look at education and Higher Ed systems – NONE have integrations with the hot apps such as Tik-Tok and Instagram, let alone WhatsApp.  You have to go where the kids are.

By the way, for vendors who are targeting Millennials , time to move on, it is Gen Z now and Edge coming.  How about having some social functionality that targets them, heck, even the rest of us.  (Side note – the most popular age for online gaming? Seniors.  The most popular age for video games? 35-40)

Chat Rooms – Another nominee from 2018.  If you have web conferencing integrated via an API or whatever, why would you want a text-based chat room?  Did I mention I had one of these too? In 1994.

Pie Charts on the administration side –  Pie Charts are great, but wow talk about outdated. I love Pie. Cheery. Apple. Pumpkin – personal fav.  But as an visual on the administration side? No.  Not unless it comes in Pumpkin.

winturkey– And the winner is –  Forums/Discussion Boards.  If you are going to have one, then let’s update them by having the ability to record audio/leave my voice on it, even audio and video.   

Category – Learning System fleeturkeyfleeturkeyfleeturkey

By far the toughest category in this year’s awards.  So many systems out there, so many, I ask myself, why are people buying this system,  are they unaware of XYZ?  Perhaps they like the folks who sell it.  Perhaps there is something in the system that says, “hello, I’m the best choice,” or perhaps it just works for them. 

And for these folks, I totally respect your decision.  Mine, on the other hand;

NovoEd –  I still debate on what they are and not are.  I initially thought they were more an LXP, because other LXP vendors run into them, more often than not, but I can tell you they are not an LXP.  They are definitely not an LMS.  They are a learning platform, but to try to put them into a segment, which I think would help them, isn’t doable.  I say this, because when I talked to them, I was provided with different responses to what they were (i.e. saw themselves as).  They have clients and they do some solid things, but saying you are not in the content business (a few other learning systems say the same mantra),  is befuddling.  If your client has content – and they do, then you are in the content business. 

Workday Learning – I never thought these two words would come out of my lips, when considering the Turkey Award.  Workday makes a great HRIS system, by far the best in the industry, but for learning, uh, no.  At one time, they were a good system, Top 20 to be quite honest, but those days are gone.  I can’t speak for their SIS platform, and I won’t, but for corporate learning/training, you can do far better than going with Workday Learning. 

As an analyst I received the latest following Workday’s big yearly event, information they presented, etc. – and in this year’s items, they talked about a swath of their products – and enhancements.  The one they left out? Workday Learning.  They were late to the game on adding a content marketplace, and while they were an early adopter of the Netflix like experience (due to their buy of Mediacore, which offered that), the system seems to be in middle of the road mode.  Fine, for companies who do not have the capital to do a few items, not for a company like Workday. 

SuccessFactors – Ha. Hello, my dear friend.  I’m not sure what you will look like by the end of 2020 – perhaps a combo of SAP Litmos and you or a re-brand with feature sets for everyone, and not just Enterprise, which uh, SAP Litmos does as well, but SuccessFactors is ideally suited for employees, and only for folks who I think have SAP to begin with.  I am still at a loss on why people buy SuccessFactors for learning. 

It just isn’t that good, and there are so many, so many systems out there that are better. Perhaps you miss your old legacy system.  Maybe, you own a Plateau Systems Rocks T-Shirt, and thus you just can’t toss it in the heap and move on. 

Bridge –  Based on some news reports, it looks like Instructure is putting Bridge on the market.  I’m not placing them here because of that, rather they are here, because it just isn’t a good system. It always seems to be a work in progress, which when you think about it, it has been around for a few years.  For a system that just a couple of months ago, called themselves an employee development platform, to now referring to themselves as NexGen learning solution/platform, that can be used for extended enterprise (multi-tenant, including B2B/customer training), and for sales enablement, sorry that won’t work.  To do SEP, you need to have robust sales functionality in it, not just the ability to do sales training – because every system can do that.  An SEP, is a first and foremost, sales related functionality with a nice training component within it.

Bridge isn’t the only system lately, to push the sales enablement narrative as part of their pitch, but, for a platform who overwhelmingly pushed a heavy focus on employee development, jumping over to try to grab SEP audience or extended enterprise is a bit odd. 

Just as odd as seeing a penguin wearing a wig at the zoo.  Yes, that odd.

 

winturkey – And the winner is…. Bridge.

I had this witty retort all ready to go, but then I realized, that the sea breezes were calling me.  The sun is shining. The day is warm.

And Thanksgiving is just around the corner.

Happy Turkey Day everyone!

E-Learning 24/7

Bonus – FindAnLMS now has a mini-RFP component.  That’s right, if you are interested in a learning system, and wish to submit a scaled down RFP, now you can.  I recommend this as part of your due dilligence.  Add a use case, provide some basics, and start the conversation.  You can always provide a more detailed RFP later, but, by levering the mini-RFP, you are telling the vendor, you want to see more, a demo for example.  Too many people, look around, but fail to book a demo early on in the process.  Mini-RFP within FindAnLMS, changes that.   Best of all, it is 100% FREE.  (Vendors that list “Request for Proposal” on their catalog listing, accepts Mini-RFPs.  Simply click on the button for the RFP window to appear – Vendors who offer it include Absorb, SumTotal, CrossKnowledge, D2L Brightspace, Cornerstone, Udutu, Biz Library, Asentia, Inquisiq R4, Instilled LXP, Docebo, Coorpacademy, 360Learning, TalentLMS, eFront, Eurekos and Fuse  ) 

Next week’s blog – How to BUY the WRONG LEARNING SYSTEM –  Get ready to find out, what you need to do, to ensure you pick the wrong system.  Sadly, many people do this, i.e. pick the wrong system, and it is because they do the many if not all, of the exact items, I’ll cover.

 

 

Why are so many women choosing entrepreneurship?

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Why are so many women choosing entrepreneurship?

As Beyoncé once asked (and answered), “Who run the world? Girls.” In fact, American Express found that women started over 1,800 new businesses a day, on average, during 2017 and 2018 in the U.S. alone. And at home in Australia, women account for 34 per cent of all entrepreneurs. 

So, why are so many women choosing to become their own bosses? Keep reading to find out.

A surge in female start-ups is shifting the face of entrepreneurship. In a few short years, we’ve come in leaps and bounds – turning the well-publicised male centric businesses of Silicon Valley on their heads. 

With so many women choosing to swap the 9-5 for a chance at entrepreneurial freedom, we thought it was time to investigate why.

1. Time

One study found that the primary reason women in America started a business was to fit family needs around work. And another from MBO Partners found that 74 per cent of female respondents ranked flexibility over money. 

“Males want to build a business, make more money — women, I think, are more about the quality of life.” CEO of MBO Partners, Gene Zaino said. 

While this may be a generalisation, it does seem that many people (including men) are choosing to swap the cubicle for a larger slice of life. Because there’s no doubt about it, entrepreneurship offers incredible autonomy. 

When the founders of Beam, a portal for finding part-time or flexible work, left their corporate jobs it was for this very reason, a lack of balance and flexibility. 

Then there’s Red Balloon’s founder, Naomi Simson, who decided to stick it to the man by starting her own business so she could spend more time with her children. 

2. Money

Time aside, entrepreneurship is giving women a chance to take a sledge-hammer to the gender pay gap and smash the glass ceiling. 

The same American Express report found that during the 48 years that the U.S. Census Bureau collected data on women-owned businesses, revenue for those businesses grew from USD $8.1 billion to USD $1.8 trillion.

What’s more, women-owned businesses that generated more than USD $1 million revenue rose 34 per cent above all U.S businesses in the years 2007 to 2018. 

To say the women behind these businesses are good at making it rain is an understatement. 

As many women are finding, when you’re your own boss, you can set the rates. Fairer pricing without any engendered bias means women can reap what they deserve. 

3. Culture

Unfortunately, many corporate workplaces still feel exclusionary for women. From inflexible working arrangements, to inappropriate comments and acts, there’s a lot of groundwork yet to be made.

On the other hand, when developing their own business, many women find they can leave the poor culture of their old workplaces behind – setting up a workplace that inspires and enriches them. As a result, women are creating workplaces that not only suit themselves, but empower and support other women in the process. 

The Wing is an example of a women-only coworking space doing just that. They’ve established working spaces for women across the U.S., and are now spreading across the globe. The Wing market themselves as a space for women to nurture female businesses – encouraging like-minded members in an incubator-type setting.

Explore a range of business courses

Do you see yourself becoming an entrepreneur? It’s never too late to realise your dreams of bringing your own business idea to life.

Through Open Universities Australia (OUA), you can study business online with leading Australian universities. 

Browse and compare a range of business courses right now.

Related courses

Bachelor of Business – Griffith University

Graduate Certificate in Business – Curtin University

Bachelor of Business – University of Tasmania

Master of Business Administration – Australian Catholic University

Executive MBA – RMIT

Tesla’s ‘Cybertruck’

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Tesla’s ‘Cybertruck’

A recent Times article reports:

Elon Musk on [Nov. 21] unveiled the “Cybertruck,” an electric pickup truck that Tesla hopes will rival Ford’s best-selling F-150 line.

Its design ensured it would certainly stand out on the road. Looking little like traditional pickup trucks, the Cybertruck has a stainless steel exterior with a triangular roof.

But its introduction at an event in Los Angeles didn’t quite go as planned. During a demonstration of the truck’s toughness, its designer lobbed a metal ball at one of its windows, unexpectedly cracking it. He tried again on another window, which also cracked.

What do you think of the Cybertruck’s design? (For an added challenge, try using a metaphor or simile to describe what it looks like to you.)

If you had the money (starting at $39,000), would you buy one? Do you think other people will?

Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to learn more about the truck’s rollout.

Find many more ways to use our Picture Prompt feature in this lesson plan. You can find all our Picture Prompts in this column.

Word + Quiz: cantilever

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Word + Quiz: cantilever

noun: projecting horizontal beam fixed at one end only

verb: construct with girders and beams such that only one end is fixed

verb: project as a cantilever

_________

The word cantilever has appeared in seven articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on June 18 in “Room for Horses and Guitars and Dogs and Trumpets, in the Bay Area” by Tim McKeough:

“The first rule was that we weren’t going to remove any of these majestic oaks,” Jess Field said.

“We were threading the needle between oaks, and working with the topography,” said Bernard Trainor, the founder of Ground Studio. “We didn’t lose one tree on the project, which is kind of incredible.”

To work around the trees, the architects designed concrete foundations that stopped short of the tree roots and allowed living spaces above to cantilever out among the branches. They also split the house into two volumes — one with four bedrooms and a mudroom, the other with the living, dining and kitchen areas — connected by a small, glass-box entryway.

_________

We Are Family: 50-Plus Times Articles, Photos, Maps and More About Families of All Kinds

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We Are Family: 50-Plus Times Articles, Photos, Maps and More About Families of All Kinds

When we set out to create a collection of Times resources on the topic of “family,” we knew our main problem would be keeping it to a manageable length.

After all, the theme shows up regularly in reporting on every aspect of our lives, and across all sections of the paper — from business and politics to science, health, sports, the arts, food and travel. In fact, the subject of “parenting” even has a whole section to itself these days.

What you’ll see below, then, is a collection of the best recent work we could find to represent a range of kinds of families told via a variety of journalistic tools. It features articles and essays, photos and videos, podcasts and comic strips, maps and graphs, all addressing questions like:

  • What does “family” mean?

  • How is the concept changing?

  • How does family shape us personally?

  • What role do family structures play in our society?

We’ve created this resource thanks to an ongoing partnership with Little Free Library. The current theme of their Action Book Club, which hopes to inspire readers to make the world a better place, is “We Are Family,” and you can find discussion prompts and actionable ideas as well as book suggestions related to this theme on their site.

Finally, we know our list is incomplete. If there is a Times piece on the topic of “family” that you would like to see us include, please post your idea in the comments, or write to us at LNFeedback@nytimes.com.

What Does It Mean to Help One Family? (2016)

Thousands of Canadians enlisted in an unusual mission to help Syrian refugees start new lives. Now they face a gut-wrenching issue: the relatives half a world away.

Three Generations Under One Roof (2011)

In a converted apartment building in Chinatown, five adults and seven children blend traditional values and rituals with modern roles and responsibilities.

Drawing the Line Between Helping and Helicoptering (2019)

In the wake of the college bribery scandal, critiques of parents who meddle too much can leave us questioning our everyday instincts to help our children.

A Family Portrait: Brothers, Sisters, Strangers (2019)

I always knew I was conceived using a sperm donor. But I never really understood what that meant until I went searching for my brothers and sisters.

Celebrating the Fish Fry, a Late-Summer Black Tradition (2018)

Catfish, hot sauce, a few sides: For many African-American families, these are makings of a time-honored gathering that feeds a sense of community.

Welcome to College. Your Parents Are in the Tents Next Door. (2018)

Parents of first-year college students in China live in tents on campus to make goodbyes easier. Critics say they are pampering a generation of only children.

Empty Nest? In Slovakia, It May Begin When the Child Is 35 (2015)

The former Communist states in Europe have seen a sharp rise in adult children living at home, but nothing like in Slovakia, where three out of four 18- to 34-year-olds live with their parents.

A Family in Transition (2018)

Paetyn’s father Tanner, 25, is a trans man. His partner and Paetyn’s biological father is David, 35, a gay man. Their daughter, they agree, is the best thing that ever happened to them.

An American Middle Schooler, Orphaned by Deportation (2019)

Fanny was in middle school when ICE came for her mother, leaving her to navigate the struggles of adolescence by herself.

Dead Join the Living in a Family Celebration (2010)

The famadihana, a ritual in which relatives remove the dead from their tombs in an atmosphere of celebration, continues among various faiths in the island nation of Madagascar.

Emotional Power Broker of the Modern Family (2011)

Pets alter not only a family’s routines but also its hierarchy, social rhythm and web of relationships.

Invisible Child (2013)

A five-part series about Dasani, an 11-year-old girl who is one of New York City’s thousands of homeless children. Through text, images and video, journalists show what they witnessed over a year of documenting the lives of Dasani and her family.

Preserving Black American History Through Song in the Dominican Republic (2018)

For older community members, ranging in age from 80 to 104, passing down church hymns is a way to teach the youth about their rich and unique history.

For South Asian Cooks, Yogurt Starter Is an Heirloom (2019)

Homemade yogurt is central to South Asian cuisines, and home cooks hand down their distinctive starter cultures, wherever they are in the world.

Portrait of an Army Family (2014)

The Pruetts are a family of eight who have deployed 11 times.

A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Let Loose in the Night Woods (2019)

Far from the land of helicopter parenting, getting ‘dropped’ in the forest is a beloved scouting tradition.

A Cornucopia of Grandparents (2018)

Today there are children with six or eight grandparents, step-grandparents and grandparent-equivalents.

Weeknight Dinner Around the World (2019)

We asked 18 families to show us what they have for dinner on a typical weeknight.

How Do Families Around the World Spend Their Vacations? (2017)

Photo essays from around the world by Joakim Eskildsen, Moises Saman, Sim Chi Yin, Mark Neville, Mamadi Doumbouya, Massimo Vitali, Newsha Tavakolian, Justine Kurland and Christopher Anderson. (Please note: The first of these images contains nudity.)

Family Vacation (2019)

Going through the Times’ archive of family vacation photos is a powerful reminder that what makes a family vacation great is less about where you go and all about how excited you are to be there.

In Search of the American Family (2017)

An upcoming show at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston explores the idea of family: from the ones shown in the portraits to the fleeting glimpses of the photographer whose own family is back home, waiting. (Please note: One of these images contains nudity.)

A Global Look at Family and Life (2015)

Images by different photographers featured in the book “Family Photography Now.”

Teenage Marriage and Parenthood in China (2016)

In some parts of China, teenage couples willingly marry and have children, despite the educational and economic obstacles.

Conception (2018)

In the first season of our video series we chronicled what it’s like to become a mother. In Season 2, we dive into your stories about parenting.

36 Questions That Lead to Love (Again) (2017)

“Tell your partner what you like about them, and be very honest.” We asked three couples who know everything about each other to try out Modern Love’s 36 questions, intended to bring strangers closer.

Given Away: Korean Adoptees Share Their Stories (2019)

“One of the last things that my grandmother said was, ‘When you grow up, come visit me.’”

Growing Up Ethan (2019)

How do you find independence when you’re coming of age with autism?

Calving Season (2018)

A teenager helps her ranching family save calves during a snowy spring.

Dulce (2018)

In a small Colombian village, a mother guides her daughter through a rite of passage.

‘Lullaby’ (2015)

In this short documentary, young mothers in a homeless shelter write lullabies to bond with their babies.

The Polaroid Job (2017)

Our family business involved taking photos with Frankenstein’s Monster and the Easter Bunny.

I Have a Message for You (2017)

To escape Auschwitz, she left her father to die. Decades later, she got a message from him.

My Grandfather’s Memory Book (2018)

When he died, Byron Levy left behind a vast inheritance — of drawings.

What’s Going On in This Graph? | Dec. 4, 2019

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What’s Going On in This Graph? | Dec. 4, 2019

This graph of the change in the number of violent crimes and the change in the number of undocumented immigrants for the period 2007 to 2016 appeared elsewhere on NYTimes.com. The data is from 180 metropolitan areas in the United States. Both the change in the number of violent crimes and the change in the number of undocumented immigrants are expressed in terms of the number per 100,000 people.

To add more detailed information to your analysis, you may want to use the five graphs below: three violent crime graphs for aggravated assault, robbery and murder, and two property crime graphs for burglary and larceny (the taking of personal property with and without force, respectively). Note that the x-axes for all five graphs have the same scale from -3,600 to +1,400, but the y-axes’ scales for the change vary from -7 to +6 for murders to -2,023 to +922 for larcenies.

After looking closely at the graph above (or at this full-size image), think about these three questions:

  • What do you notice? If you make a claim, tell us what you noticed that supports your claim.

  • What do you wonder? What are you curious about that comes from what you notice in the graph?

The questions are intended to build on one another, so try to answer them in order. Start with “I notice,” then “I wonder,” and end with a catchy headline.

2. Next, join the conversation by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box that opens on the right. (Students 13 and older are invited to comment online. Teachers of younger students are welcome to post what their students’ comments.)

3. After you have posted, read what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting a comment. Use the “Reply” button or the @ symbol to address that student directly.

On Wednesday, Dec. 4, our collaborator, the American Statistical Association, will facilitate this discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time to help students’ understanding go deeper. You might use their responses as models for your own.

4. By Friday morning, we will reveal more information about the graph at the bottom of this post. Students, we encourage you to post an additional comment after reading the reveal. How does the original article and the moderators’ comments help you see the graph differently? Try to incorporate the statistical terms defined in the Stat Nuggets in your response.

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