For Teachers

2) Yerkes-Dodson: Lore, not Law by Cindy Nebel and Stress and Memory by Althea Need KaminskeThis pair of posts is one of my favorites. We were taught that Yerkes-Dodson Law was, well, a law. When stress is too low or too high, performance suffers. Then Cindy discovered, not necessarily so. Friends, we were all blown…

Thinking is effortful, but is it unpleasant? Here the evidence is somewhat mixed. On the one hand, we tend to require rewards to pursue more effortful thinking which suggests that the effort of thinking may not be rewarding in and of itself. On the other hand, research on the “need for cognition” suggests that there…

We offer many concrete examples throughout the book, e.g., when describing a strategy or highlighting the scientific background. After reading a chapter, students can start applying the strategies right away – either using one of the ‘how to’ suggestions, or by coming up with an implementation themselves based on what they learned about the strategy.…

While utilizing retrieval practice on its own will enhance student learning, research has shown that there are three considerations that teachers must think about in order to amplify the impact that retrieval practice has on long-term retention: spacing, interleaving, and feedback. SpacingSpacing is described as distributing practice over time and research has shown that this strategy…

In a recently published article, the authors took exam wrappers one step further and sent students to our blog to learn more about retrieval practice and metacognition in particular and to see how that would impact students’ strategy choices (2).We know that left to their own devices students most often choose less than desirable strategies,…

Now, onto the written coverage of this paper, by Jennifer Brigati and colleagues (1)! Note: my written coverage overlaps with the video, but is not a perfect replication. There’s a little something extra in each, based on how I’ve been tossing these ideas around in my head over the last few weeks.The studyIn their 2020…

When students use self-consequenting, they identify and provide either extrinsic rewards for talk completion (“After I finish this paper I’ll go get ice cream”) or negative consequences that might occur after poor performance (“If I don’t finish this paper I can’t get ice cream”). These consequences can be long-term - students may remind themselves of…

References(1) Allen, M., LeFebvre, L., LeFebvre, L., & Bourhis, J. (2020). Is the Pencil Mightier than the Keyboard? A Meta-Analysis Comparing the Method of Notetaking Outcomes. Southern Communication Journal, 85(3), 143–154. https://doi.org/10.1080/1041794X.2020.1764613 (2) Voyer, D., Ronis, S. T., & Byers, N. (2022). The effect of notetaking method on academic performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis.…

cover image by Skitterphoto on PexelsThe idea of authentic assessments has been around for over 30 years now. In 1990, Grant Wiggins coined the term ‘authentic assessment’ (1) and in recent years this assessment approach has received a considerable boost. The pandemic as well as the rise of AI in education have required educators to…

1) Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ)The MSLQ is in the public domain and is free to use with acknowledgement to the authors. The MSLQ is divided into several different scales. The Motivation Scales assess Value Components (intrinsic and extrinsic task orientations, task value), Expectancy Components (control beliefs, self-efficacy), and Affective Components (test anxiety). The…