Learning Scientists Posts

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.…

School can be stressful, and 2020 has been a particularly stressful year for many of us. So, for this week’s blog, I thought I would write about retrieval practice and stress. Fortunately, I get to share some good news! Prior research has shown that acute stress can hinder our ability to retrieve information. Acute stress is…

Today is (American) Thanksgiving so we wanted to take the opportunity to thank our community! We are so grateful for the continued support, encouragement, and contributions of our community.Thank you to our Patreon sponsors! Your support keeps our email subscription service and podcast production going. The Learning Scientists is an entirely volunteer effort and we…

As with any of the formats above, the key to making combination notes is recognizing what type of information needs to be recorded/learned and choosing the appropriate format, while making sure it’s in a format that you can practice spaced retrieval with. I really like using these different formats because they are already set up to…

Cover photo by Gerd Altmann from PixabayBy Megan SumerackiIn my last blog, I wrote about cognitive networks and implicit bias. The gist of the post was that our systems allow us to categorize and generalize, flexibly and automatically, and that this generally helps us. For example, we have some general rules about what a chair…

Generative chatbots like ChatGPT also have a remarkable ability to pass for human-like performance in some limited social contexts, scoring well on standardized exams assessments typically used to measure aptitude and performance in a field (2). However, the lack of agency in chatbots means that they are unable to take responsibility for their actions.They cannot…

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,…

Cover Image by cottonbro studio from PexelsBy Althea Need KaminskeNote: To the best of my knowledge I did not use generative AI to write this post. Any mistakes or insights are my own. AI is big right now. It’s been big for a while, but it seems to be more and more aggressive in the…

By Carolina Kuepper-TetzelI’m sure you have done this before or seen it in presentations: That funny meme on a slide to make it more engaging. My first thought would go to seductive details and how adding irrelevant, but funny details can hinder learning. We have blogged and talked about this before (here and here). However,…

Thank you to our guest bloggers and podcast interviewees! We’ve learned so much from your different perspectives and experiences and we’re proud to be able to share that with our readers. As Learning Scientists we, of course, love to talk about learning, but we also love getting to learn ourselves! (Have something interesting to share…