Monthly Archives: June 2021

anxiety

Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycle of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind by Judson Brewer

Even before the increase in mental health challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we were living in an era of heightened anxiety. People experience feelings of worry, nervousness, or unease related to their futures or to life circumstances shrouded in



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How to Capture Students’ Attention for Online Readings (tl;dr)

When do students focus while reading online? When do they lose focus and let their minds wander? Does the length of the passage being read influence the answer to these questions? Several researchers, including Dr. Noah Forrin, have been exploring this topic,



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When Do We Trust the Experts? When They Don’t Trust Themselves!

Back in 2010, three scholars published a widely-discussed paper on “Power Poses.” The headlines: when people adopt a strong stance (say, fists on hips, like Superman), they… …take more risks in gambling tasks, …change various hormone levels, and …answer questions



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Beyond Slogans and Posters: The Science of Student Motivation

In many cases, cognitive science offers clear teaching advice. You’re curious about working memory? We’ve got LOTS of strategies. Wondering about the limits of attention? Good news! Alas, in other cases, research doesn’t give us such clarity. If, for instance,



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Does Chewing Gum Improve Memory and Learning?

I recently read a striking Twitter claim from a well-known teacher: chewing gum helps memory and concentration. In fact, according to the teacher, research supports this claim: the tweet cites this study as one of many to make this gum-chewing



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Jerome Kagan

Jerome Kagan: A Teacher’s Appreciation

A guest post, by Rob McEntarffer   I didn’t get to learn about Jerome Kagan (1929-2021) during my teacher’s college training. I regret that. While I was a teacher, my contact with Kagan’s research was limited to teaching about temperament research



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