For Teachers

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…

By Carolina Kuepper-TetzelIn education many students and staff report experiencing mental health and wellbeing challenges at some point in their studies or their work - often for prolonged periods. The pandemic has contributed to the burden on mental health many students and teachers were already facing – and they often must wait for a long…

The methods used by the researchers were reasonably straightforward. Over a series of nine experiments, they introduced participants to affect stimuli (pictures and videos chosen to elicit emotions that were either negative, neutral, or positive). Each set of experiments randomly put participants into one of two groups. The first experienced cognitive tasks referred to as…

Researchers had all participants watch a video lecture on Zoom and then take a quiz. The participants were split into three conditions. Group 1 had all screens off (no one in the class could see themselves or anyone else). Group 2 had only their own screen off (they could see the rest of the class).…

Mike Bell taught science in a state secondary school and then ran the Evidence-Based Teachers Network (EBTN). He has run successful training courses on evidence-based methods in dozens of UK schools and Further Education colleges. [Bio taken from the book]. You can follow Mike on Twitter: @EvidenceTeach What is your teaching background?I was teaching science in…

The learning phase took place over 9 weeks in the classroom. During this time, the students received their normal lessons and assignments. There were four different types of problems that were a part of the experiment, and the students’ assignments were constructed so that across the nine weeks they saw 12 different problems of each…

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…

3) Stereotype threat: The consequences of being negatively stereotyped by Dr. Toni SchmaderThis is the lab website for Dr. Toni Schmader, which describes much of the research that has been supported by her lab at the University of British Columbia. The page discusses some of the nuances about stereotype threat that make an important addition…

References:(1)   Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological bulletin, 132(3), 354.(2)   Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering,…

The overall structure of a research paper will usually follow an hourglass shape. That means that a research paper will start broad by embedding the study into the overall context and state the general issue it addresses. As the Introduction progresses, the scope will become more and more specific. The Introduction ends on a very…