Pitting Learning Styles Against Dual Coding
By Megan SumerackiWhen creating content and materials for the Learning Scientists website, we try to include many different types of forms (NOT because of Learning Styles, but because of preferences, and diversity in the type of media an individual can consume!). To that end, I’ve created blog versions of some bite-size research podcast episodes in…
Digest #170: Fun Activities to Reduce Forgetting (and Boredom) over the School Break
The time between the end of a school year and the start of a new one can feel long and from a memory perspective considerable forgetting occurs. Engaging children and young people with different activities can help to counteract forgetting and boredom. In today’s digest, we highlight different activities and free resources. 1. Primary games &…
Announcing Our New “Ace That Test” Book!! And Other Books We Enjoy (Digest #169)
We have a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! Our newest book, Ace That Test: A Student’s Guide To Better Learning is coming out this summer—July 19 to be exact. You can preorder through Amazon now! Starting June 28, you can preorder through the Routledge link on our website. You can read Chapter 1 for free here!We are SUPER…
The Relationship Between Test Anxiety and Exam Performance
By Althea Need Kaminske Does test anxiety cause poorer performance on exams? Meta-analyses show that students with higher test anxiety tend to perform worse on exams (1). We also know that anxiety can affect cognitive processes through working memory capacity (2). Therefore, the general consensus is that test anxiety interferes with our working memory, which…
Help Students Believe in Themselves: Self-efficacy Boosts Exam Scores
by Cindy NebelThe six strategies for effective learning are, indeed, effective, but only to the degree that students actually use them. And in order to change behavior, we have to consider motivation. Now, motivation is an entire area of psychology and not one that we pretend to be experts in. There are many different motivational…
GUEST POST: Can Digital Detox Improve your Learning Abilities?
What is a digital detox? The term was coined by founders of Digital Detox company that address the impact of tech dependency with camps, research, and educational programs (10). In Oxford Dictionaries definition, a digital detox is defined as a “period of time during which a person refrains from using their electronic devices, such as…
Digest #162: Teaching Water Safety
By Megan SumerackiWelcome to May! In many parts of the world, the pools have been open for a while, and in New England where I live, many neighbors will start opening their pools over Memorial Day Weekend at the end of the month. Water safety is not just about summer months (lakes even when frozen…
Digest #160: Neurodiversity Celebration Week
By Megan SumerackiThis week, March 21-27, 2022, is Neurodiversity Celebration Week. Siena Castellon founded Neurodiversity Celebration in 2018. In Siena’s words, the week was founded because “I wanted to change the way learning differences are perceived. As a teenager who is autistic and has ADHD, dyslexia, and dyspraxia, my experience has been that people often…
Expanding Retrieval Practice for Preschoolers
By Megan SumerackiToday’s post features a set of experiments conducted by Catherine Fritz and colleagues (1) with preschool children. We have actually cited this paper a few times on our blog, when we covered why the spacing effect has failed to make it into mainstream practice (Part 1, Part 2), and when I wrote about…
Digest #156: Learning (More) About Neurodiversity
By Megan SumerackiI have been learning a lot about neurodiversity and the way we think about divergence vs. disorders. I have appreciated learning about these areas so much, and have appreciated the opportunities to hear experts and those who have experience with neurodiversity (many different types of experiences!) discuss these issues. For example, our most…
