Learning Scientists Posts

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…

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…

References:(1) Roediger, H. L., Putnam, A. L., & Smith, M. A. (2011). Ten benefits of testing and their applications to educational practice. Chapter in J. Mester, & B. Ross (Eds.), The Psychology of Learning and Motivation: Cognition in Education. (pp. 1-36). Oxford: Elsevier.(2) Fritz, C. O., Morris, P. E., Nolan, D., & Singleton, J. (2007).…

Cover image by Sebastián García from PixabayIn this week’s post, Cindy and I (Althea) talk about our work with medical student learners. We have both worked for medical schools for a little over a year now and we’ve learned some things! We discuss common challenges for learning in medical school, efficient learning strategies, learning in…

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…

Cover image by Kei from PixabayBy Megan SumerackiLast week, my blog post covered a paper by Simon Cullen and Daniel Oppenheimer. Their paper is titled Choosing to Learn: The Importance of Student Autonomy in Higher Education (1). In their paper, they present two studies. The first study, covered in Part 1, was a randomized controlled…

Cover image by Ulrich from PixabayBy Megan SumerackiIn today’s post, I want to share a cool, relatively new paper by Simon Cullen and Daniel Oppenheimer from Science Advances (1). The paper is titled, Choosing to Learn: The Importance of Student Autonomy in Higher Education. The methodology is neat, the results are interesting, and while this…

Cover image by Ulrich from PixabayBy Megan SumerackiIn today’s post, I want to share a cool, relatively new paper by Simon Cullen and Daniel Oppenheimer from Science Advances (1). The paper is titled, Choosing to Learn: The Importance of Student Autonomy in Higher Education. The methodology is neat, the results are interesting, and while this…

The summary of the articles they found paints a picture of who is implementing and studying these learning strategies. Not surprisingly, introductory psychology courses were the most common setting to find studies (there were 16 studies like this) on the use of retrieval practice and spacing. After that, the most common setting to find these…

By Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel Educational videos are often used in the classroom setting to support instruction of content. On the positive side, these videos can help scaffolding a topic which can lead to better understanding of it. They can also increase situational interest in students because they are fun which may spark further engagement with the…