Education Conferences

Marshmallows and Beyond: Cultural Influences on Self-Regulation

Andrew Watson
by: Andrew Watson
Posted on: September 25, 2022

Few psychology studies have created a bigger stir than Walter Mishel’s research into marshmallows. Okay, he was really doing research into self-control. But the marshmallow images were adorable: all those cute children desperately trying not to eat one marshmallow right

From Stressed to Resilient by Deborah Gilboa

Erik Jahner, PhD
by: Erik Jahner, PhD
Posted on: September 20, 2022

Our lives are filled with change and all change is stressful whether that change is good or bad. Whether stress takes a toll on our well-being or whether we use that stress to build resilience is determined partly by a

Translating Research to the Classroom: the Case of Discovery Learning

Andrew Watson
by: Andrew Watson
Posted on: September 18, 2022

Here at Learning and the Brain, we want teachers and students to benefit from research. Obviously. When psychologists discover important findings about the mind, when neuroscientists investigate the function of the brain, schools might well benefit. Let’s start making connections!

Have You Heard of…”Prospective Memory”? What It Is, Why Teachers Should Notice

Andrew Watson
by: Andrew Watson
Posted on: September 15, 2022

Most of the time, we remember things experienced in the past: My most recent birthday A childhood vacation An obscure factual tidbit from the news However, we also spend some time remembering the future: An errand to complete on the way home

Online Teaching + Research: Insights from Cognitive Load Theory

Andrew Watson
by: Andrew Watson
Posted on: September 10, 2022

Most of us spent the last 2 years learning LOTS about online teaching. Many of us relied on our instincts, advice from tech-savvy colleagues, and baling wire. Some turned to helpful books. (Both Doug Lemov and Courtney Ostaff offer lots

Teaching Minds & Brains: the Best Books to Read

Andrew Watson
by: Andrew Watson
Posted on: September 5, 2022

When I started in this field, back in 2008, we all HUNGERED for good books. After all, teaching is profoundly complicated. And, psychology is mightily complicated. And, neuroscience is fantastically (unbearably?) complicated. If we’re going to put those three fields

College Students Sitting in Hallway

How Students (Think They) Learn: The Plusses and Minuses of “Interleaving”

Andrew Watson
by: Andrew Watson
Posted on: August 27, 2022

As the school year begins, teachers want to know: can mind/brain research give us strategies to foster learning? We might also wonder: what will our students think of those strategies? It seems plausible — even likely — that students will

Future Tense by Tracy Dennis-Tiwary

Erik Jahner, PhD
by: Erik Jahner, PhD
Posted on: August 26, 2022

Being that approximately 20% of US adults have reported having an anxiety disorder in the last year, and many more have experienced situational anxiety which they are trying to reduce, Tracy Dennis-Tiwary suggests it is time for us to redefine

Student Doing Homework with Laptop

How To Make Sure Homework Really Helps (a.k.a.: “Retrieval Practice Fails”)

Andrew Watson
by: Andrew Watson
Posted on: August 14, 2022

Most research focuses narrowly on just a few questions. For instance: “Does mindful meditation help 5th grade students reduce anxiety?” “How many instructions overwhelm college students’ working memory?” “Do quizzes improve attention when students learn from online videos?” Very occasionally,

The Best Book on Cognitive Load Theory: Ollie Lovell to the Rescue

Andrew Watson
by: Andrew Watson
Posted on: August 7, 2022

Teaching ought to be easy. After all, we have a functionally infinite amount of long-term memory. You don’t have to forget one thing to learn another thing — really. So: I should be able to shovel information and skills into