Monthly Archives: October 2018

The Limits of Retrieval Practice: A Helpful Case Study

Here on the blog, I write A LOT about the benefits of “retrieval practice.” (For example: here and here.) In brief: our students often review by trying to put information into their brains. That is: they “go over” the material. However,



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The Perpetual Now

Life Without Memory: Your Hippocampus and You

Who are you without your memory? In neurobiological lingo: who are you without your hippocampus? The Best-Known Answer No doubt you’ve heard of Henry Molaison, aka H. M., whose hippocampi were removed in order to cure debilitating epilepsy. The good



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Environmental Consequences of Ed Tech

Neil Selwin argues, dramatically, that “EdTech is Killing Us All.” His point is not that technology is bad for learning, but that it’s bad for the environment. As we think about the educational work we do, we should keep this



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cognitive breaks

Can Quiet Cognitive Breaks Help You Learn?

A 10-minute cognitive break improves our memory for story details. If this research pans out, it might be immensely helpful in the classroom. Watch this space… Continue reading



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T/F: Timed Tests Cause Math Anxiety?

Questions about math and anxiety have been on the uptick recently. Over at Filling the Pail, Greg Ashman offers his typically direct analysis. You might disagree with his opinion, but he’s always worth a mental debate. By the way, a



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prevent cheating

How to Stop Cheating: An Awkward Debate

Despite promising early research, current findings suggest that “moral reminders” don’t prevent cheating. Alas: the “replication crisis” continues… Continue reading



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fearf

The Fear Factor: How One Emotion Connects Altruists, Psychopaths, and Everyone In-between by Abigail Marsh

Abigail Marsh’s 2017 book , reviews research by her and others showing that extraordinary altruists and psychopaths may be two extremes of a bell-curve of human caring with altruists and psychopaths distinguished by how sensitive they are to feelings of



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Using and Misusing Averages: The Benefits of Music?

The “10 Minute Rule” tells us that people can’t pay attention to something for longer than ten minutes. As teachers, therefore, we shouldn’t do any one thing for longer than ten minutes. We need to mix it up a bit.



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live theater

Live Theater Boosts Student Knowledge and Tolerance

Question: What’s the most potentially misleading kind of research? Answer: Research that supports a position you REALLY want to believe. For this reason, I try to be ferociously skeptical of research that sounds really wonderful to me. In this case:



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teenage hormones

Teenagers, Hormones, and Other Stubborn Myths

There’s a short video about adolescence making the rounds on social media. The video offers a quick explanation for highly-emotional teenage behavior. And it has a suggestion or two for parents. The suggestions themselves make good sense: Reassure your child



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