Monthly Archives: September 2023

Picture of a student doing acrobatic movement in the classroom while carrying backpack with doodles on the blackboard

“Embodied Cognition” in Action: Using Gestures to Teach Science

Here’s a topic that has gotten lots of enthusiastic attention in recent years: embodied cognition. As the name suggests, that phrase means — basically — “thinking with your body, not just your mind.” Because your brain is a part of



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Why We Forget and How to Remember Better by Dr. Andrew E. Budson & Dr. Elizabeth A. Kensinger

Why We Forget and How to Remember Better by Dr. Andrew E. Budson and Dr. Elizabeth A. Kensinger is a captivating research driven exploration of the intricate workings of human memory. In this comprehensive book, the authors delve into the



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An artist's table, covered with an organized but overwhelming collection on pencils, pens, markers, and so forth

Getting the Principles Just Right: Classroom Decoration

The benefits of classroom decoration seem intuitive. After all, we decorate our homes in order to make ourselves — and our guests — comfortable there. Little wonder that decorating a classroom feels like a natural way to welcome our students,



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Young students reading and concentrating

Getting the Details Just Right: “Pre-questions”

Teachers, of course, ask students questions. ALL THE TIME with the questions. We ask questions DURING a lesson in order to “check for understanding.” We encourage students to ask themselves questions AFTER class, because “retrieval practice” promotes learning. And, we



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Female student using pale blue highlighter in a book

Getting the Details Just Right: Highlighting

Because the school year starts right now, I’m using this month’s blog posts to give direct classroom guidance. Last week, I wrote about a meta-analysis showing that — yup — retrieval practice is awesome. Teachers should be aware of a few



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