For Teachers

The authors note that this is distinct from the learning sciences (although the Science of Learning is often used interchangeably). The learning sciences focus specifically on “investigat[ing] teaching and learning as well as the design and development of learning environments, with the goal to improve the effectiveness of education and training.” (p. 13). Given these…

Metacognition allows students to be more expert-like in their thinking and more effective and efficient in their learning.Modeling StrategiesAs educators, you think metacognitively all the time: reflecting on your current understanding, assessing what the burning questions are, and considering how your thinking has changed over the years with new information. Your students need to see…

In today’s post, I present a paper from 2020 by Xiaofeng Ma and colleagues (1) investigating retrieval practice with first grade students (children ages 6-7 years). They wondered whether retrieval practice would be effective for children this young, given that children’s memory systems are less mature at this age. Children this age are much less…

By Carolina Kuepper-TetzelWe have looked at the benefits of combining text and visuals for memory and learning – see dual coding – in many previous posts. A new series of experiments has investigated the effects of drawing specifically and whether drawing improves memory for the to-be-learned material compared to other strategies (1). The research is…

Marty Huitt is a seasoned educator and visionary leader dedicated to revolutionizing how schools support children struggling with behavioral and academic challenges. For over two decades, Marty has served as the Director of the Behavior Intervention Support Team (BIST) program in Kansas City, Missouri, shaping the landscape of educational intervention and support in more than…

Medical education is divided into Undergraduate Medical Education (UME), which includes coursework, supervised clinical rotations, and specialty electives, and Graduate Medical Education (GME) which is residency and like their entry level job. So, UME is graduate-level education (post-bachelors), but called Undergraduate, for reasons I’ve yet to discover. For the purposes of this blog, I’m focused…

The researchers found that when there were low levels of cold calling in a class, men tended to participate voluntarily more than women. When cold calling was frequently used within a class, students, both men and women, volunteered to participate more often. Further, the increase was larger for the women students than the men students.…

By Carolina Kuepper-TetzelA recent guest post on “The Benefits and Risks of ChatGPT for Education” provided a balanced view on the use of AI in education by highlighting some of the pitfalls and opportunities to support various aspects of teaching and learning. Generative AI is not going anywhere and so it is vital for educators…

Cover image by Dharmendra Rai from PixabayBy Althea Need KaminskeWhile we talk about the benefits of retrieval practice a lot here at the Learning Scientists, we usually talk about the benefits of retrieval practice for already learned information. However, retrieval practice has also been shown to be beneficial for learning new information. That is, retrieving…

References:(1)    Yerkes, R.M., and Dodson, J.D. (1908). The relation of strength of stimulus to rapidity of habit formation. Journal of Comparative Neurology of Psychology, 18(5), 459-482.(2)    Diamond D.M., et al. (2007). The Temporal Dynamics Model of Emotional Memory Processing: A Synthesis on the Neurobiological Basis of Stress-Induced Amnesia, Flashbulb and Traumatic Memories, and the Yerkes-Dodson…