The Value of Knowing Your Audience
References:(1) Beier, M. E., & Ackerman, P. L. (2005). Age, ability, and the role of prior knowledge on the acquisition of new domain knowledge: Promising results in a real-world learning environment. Psychology and aging, 20(2), 341.(2) Chi, M & Koeske, R. D. (1983). Network representation of child’s dinosaur knowledge. Developmental Psychology, 19(1), 29-39.(3) Recht, D. R., &…
GUEST POST: THE BIG REVEAL: Showing Students How Metacognition Works
As adults, we are so used to this kind of thinking that we are hardly aware we are doing it, and even less aware that young people are still developing these important metacognitive skills. More importantly, as adults we can think about our thinking (like you just did). We have the gift of age (acquired…
Encouraging Students to Adopt Effective Learning Strategies
“Before you begin, we wanted to tell you about a strategy that is extremely effective for learning: repeatedly self-testing. Research shows that people learn more from repeated testing than from repeated studying. This is illustrated in the Figure to the right which shows differences in final memory performance for Purdue students who repeatedly studied information…
GUEST POST: Using Checklists to Improve College Teaching
References (1) Weinstein, Y., Sumeracki, M., & Caviglioli, O. (2019). Understanding how we learn: A visual guide. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. (2) Bergs, J., Hellings, J., Cleemput, I., Zurel, Ö., Troyer, V. D., Hiel, M. V., Demeere, J.-L., Claeys, D., & Vandijck, D. (2014). Systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect of the World Health Organization surgical safety…
Digest #152: Teaching How To Code
3. Learn R Resources by Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel, @pimpmymemoryThis is a list I have compiled with different open educational resources to learn R. R is a programming language for statistics. You can create fantastic data visualizations with R, too, and an increasing number of psychology researchers are using R for analyzing their data.
Learning from Video: A Review of the Literature in Higher Ed
References:(1) Noetel, M., Griffith, S., Delaney, O., Sanders, T., Parker, P., del Pozo Cruz, B., & Lonsdale, C. (2021). Video improves learning in higher education: A systematic review. Review of Educational Research, 91(2), 204-236.(2) Mayer, R. E. (2008). Applying the science of learning: Evidence-based principles for the design of multimedia instruction. American psychologist, 63(8), 760.
GUEST POST: Developing a Culture of Collective Knowledge Building with Students
5. Observe students in a more purposeful, indepth way and more frequently. This is the most effective tool a teacher can use to build essential knowledge about their class.● ‘Sit back’ more, and be consciously less directive and more observant.● Watch students learn, taking note of specific behaviours, language and actions that promote collective learning,…
GUEST POST: Podsie – Connecting Teachers and Students to Learning Science
Like Doug Lemov, author of Teach Like a Champion, describes, the forgetting curve is an “imperfect” but “useful” tool (originally developed by a psychologist named Herman Ebingghaus in 1885 (2)) that helps us understand just how fast humans forget without review. In my case, asking my students to recall content that they hadn’t seen in…
Digest #151: Education Podcasts
Of course we love reading and think that blogs are great. But, we also love podcasts! Podcasts are a great way to digest information on the go. It can also be nice to take a break from screens, step outside and get moving while listening to a podcast. We have our own, The Learning Scientists…
Is Critical Thinking a Soft Skill?
As with most things, the state vs trait debate is nuanced. I don’t think any personality psychologist would claim that personality is entirely state-based or entirely-trait-based. Instead, it’s somewhere in between. You may have general tendencies, but find yourself thinking, feeling, and behaving differently depending on the context. While you may tend to be shy…
