To Nap or Not to Nap, IS That a Question?
A common sleep recommendation is to limit naps! Wait, what? Anyone who has struggled to get children to nap should be laughing so hard now they might be crying. As a parent of two young boys, I cherish times when they both settle down for an afternoon nap. Certainly, children should be getting more sleep…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
GUEST POST: The 5-Sided Flashcard
Side 3: Example, Picture, or Story. Now we’re getting somewhere. On tests, teachers often ask students for a definition of a term. Or they give students a definition and ask for the term. But sometimes teachers ask students to provide, or recognize, examples. Students get stuck if they’ve only memorized words and can’t picture a…
GUEST POST: Testing in the Classroom: The Importance of Feedback
References: (1) Roediger, H. L., III, & Butler, A. C. (2011). The critical role of retrieval practice in long-term retention. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15, 20-27. (2) Epstein, M. L., Lazarus, A. D., Calvano, T. B., Matthews, K. A., Hendel, R. A., Epstein, B. B., et al. (2002). Immediate feedback assessment technique promotes learning and corrects…
GUEST POST: A Call to Action: Mental Health and Smartphone Usage
If you are a student like myself, become more self-aware. Note the moments when you pick up your smart phone right when you wake up or when you scroll through Instagram right before you go to bed. Think about how you feel looking through hundreds of posts a day. Pay attention to the way you…
GUEST POST: Who Really Benefits from Retrieval Practice
So, what does this mean? First of all, although the benefits of testing have been extensively reported, it appears that not all participants, at least among college students, do benefit directly from testing. In fact, for about 1/3 of our participants, retrieval practice made them worse. Does this mean we should stop incorporating testing as…
