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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andrew Watson
Andrew began his classroom life as a high-school English teacher in 1988, and has been working in or near schools ever since. In 2008, Andrew began exploring the practical application of psychology and neuroscience in his classroom. In 2011, he earned his M. Ed. from the “Mind, Brain, Education” program at Harvard University. As President of “Translate the Brain,” Andrew now works with teachers, students, administrators, and parents to make learning easier and teaching more effective. He has presented at schools and workshops across the country; he also serves as an adviser to several organizations, including “The People’s Science.” Andrew is the author of "Learning Begins: The Science of Working Memory and Attention for the Classroom Teacher."
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- Srijita on The Unexpected Problem with Learning Styles Theory [Reposted]
- Andrew Watson on Introducing “Schema Theory”
- Andrew Watson on Introducing “Schema Theory”
- andrew watson on Introducing “Schema Theory”
- Lukas on Think, Pair, Share: Does It Help? If Yes, Why?
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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,
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
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
Getting the Details Just Right: Retrieval Practice
As we gear up for the start of a new school year, we’re probably hearing two words over and over: retrieval practice. That is: students have two basic options when they go back over the facts, concepts, and procedures they’ve
Using “Worked Examples” in Mathematics Instruction: a New Meta-Analysis
Should teachers lets students figure out mathematical ideas and processes on their own? Or, should we walk students through those ideas/processes step by step? This debate rages hotly, from eX-Twitter to California teaching standards. As best I understand them, the
“Teaching” Helps Students Learn: New Research
Not even two months ago, I admitted my skepticism about a popular teaching technique. While I accept that “students teaching students” SOUNDS like a great idea, I nonetheless worry about the practical application of this idea: Understanding a new idea
My Detective Adventure: “VR Will Transform Education” [Reposted]
Our blogger is off this week. He asked us to repost this piece, because he’ll be chatting with these researchers again soon! A friend recently sent me a link to an article with a click-baity headline: something like “Virtual
The Unexpected Problem with Learning Styles Theory [Reposted]
Our blogger will be taking the first two weeks of August off. This post generated plenty of conversation when he published it last October. I recently read a much-liked Twitter post that said (I’m paraphrasing here): If you try
Open Classroom Plans: The Effects on Reading
I’ve written frequently over the years about the effects of classroom decoration on learning. The headline is: althought many teachers have been trained to DECORATE, those decorations can distract students and thereby reduce learning. We’ve tested this question for students from
Learning How to Learn: Optimists and Realists
In schools, optimism helps teachers a lot. At the beginning of the year, my students JUST DON’T KNOW all sorts of things: how to write a good essay; how to analyze Macbeth; how to define “gerund.” In all likelihood, your students don’t
