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- Simon Horbury on Handwritten Notes or Laptop Notes: A Skeptic Converted?
- Caroline Edmonds on Handwritten Notes or Laptop Notes: A Skeptic Converted?
- Robert Thorn on A Little Help, Please…
- Judith VT Wilson on Perspectives on Critical Thinking: Can We Teach It? How Do We Know?
- Liz Latham on Don’t Hate on Comic Sans; It Helps Dyslexic Readers (Asterisk)
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When Analogies Go Wrong: The Benefits of Stress?
An amazing discovery becomes an inspiring analogy: Researchers at BioSphere 2 noticed a bizarre series of events: their trees kept collapsing under their own weight. Why on earth would trees collapse? It doesn’t happen outside the BioSphere; so why would
Handwritten Notes or Laptop Notes: A Skeptic Converted?
Here’s a practical question: should our students take notes by hand, or on laptops? If we were confident that one strategy or the other produced more learning – factual learning, conceptual learning, ENDURING learning – then we could give our
Too Good to Be True? “Even Short Nature Walks Improve Cognition”?
Good news makes me nervous. More precisely: if I want to believe a research finding, I become very suspicious of it. After all: it’s easy to fool me when I want to be fooled. Specifically: I’m an outdoors guy. I’ve worked at
Working Memory: Make it Bigger, or Use it Better?
Cognitive science has LOTS of good news for teachers. Can we help students remember ideas and skills better? Yes, we can! (Check out retrieval practice and other desirable difficulties). Can we promote students’ attention? Yes, we can! (Posner and Rothbart’s
Learning How to Learn: Do Video Games Help?
Long-time readers know: I like research that surprises me. If a study confirms a belief I already have, I’m glad for that reinforcement. However, I have more to learn when a study challenges my beliefs. As you’ll see below, I’m
Don’t Hate on Comic Sans; It Helps Dyslexic Readers (Asterisk)
People have surprising passions. Some friends regularly announce that the Oxford comma is a hill they’re ready to die on. (I’m an English teacher, and yet I wonder: you’re willing to die over a punctuation mark?) With equal energy and
Perspectives on Critical Thinking: Can We Teach It? How Do We Know?
Imagine the following scenario: A school principal gathers wise cognitive scientists to ask a straightforward question… “Because critical thinking is an essential 21st century skill, we know our students need to develop critical thinking skills. If we want to create
Do Classroom Decorations Distract Students? A Story in 4 Parts…
Teacher training programs often encourage us to brighten our classrooms with lively, colorful, personal, and uplifting stuff: Inspirational posters. Students’ art work. Anchor charts. Word walls. You know the look. We certainly hope that these decorations invite our students in
Why Time is a Teacher’s Greatest Commodity…and What to Do When You Don’t Have Enough of It
Today’s guest post is by Jim Heal, Director of New Initiatives, and Rebekah Berlin, Senior Program Director at Deans for Impact. Long-time readers know how much I respect the work that Deans for Impact does. Their Resources — clear, brief,
A Little Help, Please…
I’ve got a problem, and I’m hoping you can help me. Here’s the situation… I work as a high school English teacher. And I’m also a consultant – presenting psychology and neuroscience research for teachers and students and parents. In