GUEST POST: Cut It Out: Learning with Seductive Details
NarayanKripa Sundararajan (Kripa Sundar), PhD, is the Learning Science Specialist at ISTE, where she manages initiatives to incorporate learning sciences in edtech procurement, policy, and classroom practice. At Washington State University, where Kripa finished her PhD, her research focused on instructional strategies (such as concept mapping and retrieval practice) and the role of individual differences…
Learning in a Museum
By Althea Need Kaminske This past week I had the opportunity, along with Megan Sumeracki, to talk with docents about how they can use the science of learning in their work. As educators, docents face an interesting set of challenges when teaching visitors about their collections. Namely that they have a limited amount of time…
Dual Coding and Learning Styles
By Megan Sumeracki Dual coding and learning styles sound similar, but are not quite the same thing. While dual coding has scientific evidence backing its use, while learning styles has been repeatedly tested and shown not to improve learning. As I’ve mentioned in a previous post (see here), I have been working with a team…
GUEST POST: The Emerging Consensus
By Mike Bell Mike Bell taught science in UK secondary schools and then became interested in evidence. He now runs EBTN: the Evidence Based Teachers Network. EBTN has run dozens of training sessions in UK schools and college and about 7000 teachers receive their newsletter. He has a contract with an education publisher to write…
Digest #137: Lessons Learned From Learning Scientists Teacher Workshops
In the beginning of January, we were on tour in England to provide workshops to teachers. We enjoyed this opportunity tremendously because it gave us not only an opportunity to reach out to teachers and to disseminate knowledge about learning and teaching strategies from Cognitive Psychology, but also allowed us to learn what strategies teachers…
GUEST POST: Why Won’t Susie Eat Her Vegetables? Combatting Metacognitive Disconnect with Mindset
References: (1) Lee-Kwan, S. H., Moore, L. V., Blanck, H. M., Harris, D. M., & Galuska, D. (2017). Disparities in State-Specific Adult Fruit and Vegetable Consumption — United States, 2015. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), 66(45), 1241–1247. http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6645a1. (2) Mischel, W., Ebbesen, E. B., & Raskoff Zeiss, A. (1972). Cognitive and attentional mechanisms in…
GUEST POST: When Implementing Retrieval and Spaced Practice in the Science Classroom, Change Won’t...
Again, I was dissatisfied in the results. I knew practice quizzes had been effective for other courses I taught, yet the correlation was not evident. I shared these data with Megan Sumeracki to see if she could give me any insight. I also had a discussion with my students, where I shared the above graphs…
A Brief Overview of Working Memory
Working memory refers to your ability to manipulate and remember information over a short period of time (about two minutes). It’s very similar to short term memory, but when we use the term working memory we are emphasizing the manipulation of information. For example, if someone gave you a telephone number to write down, you…
Conducting Research Projects in Collaboration with Teachers
These examples show that applied research is important and more applied research is needed. It can point researchers to limitations of research findings and at the same time motivate new research questions to tackle. Thus, applied research does not only help to provide teachers and students with practical tips, but also informs research itself. Applied research…
GUEST POST: Self-Referencing as a Tool to Improve Learning
References: (1) Symons, C. S., & Johnson, B. T. (1997). The self-reference effect in memory: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 121, 371-394 (2) Humphreys, G. W., & Siu, J. (2016). Attentional control and the self: The self-attention network (SAN). Cognitive Neuroscience, 7, 5-17.. (3) Turk, D. J., Gillespie-Smith, K., Krigolson, O. E., Havard, C., Conway, M.…
