Why Don’t Students Like School? (2nd. ed.) by Daniel T. Willingham

Rebecca Gotlieb
by: Rebecca Gotlieb
Posted on: May 28, 2021

Why don’t students like school? Daniel T. Willingham, Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia, addresses this and nine other significant questions about how the human mind works and the implications for teaching in his book aptly titled, “Why

Let’s Talk! How Teachers & Researchers Can Think and Work Together

Andrew Watson
by: Andrew Watson
Posted on: May 25, 2021

Once you say it out loud, it’s so obvious: Teachers benefit from learning about psychology and neuroscience. AND, psychologists and neuroscientists (in certain fields) benefit from learning more about classroom teaching. These beliefs inspire our conferences and seminars and summer

A Beacon in the Mindset Wilderness

Andrew Watson
by: Andrew Watson
Posted on: May 18, 2021

For a few years now, I’ve been in the Mindset wilderness. Three years ago, I spent lots of time tapping the brakes. “Yes,” I’d say, “we do have plenty of good research behind this strategy. HOWEVER, let’s be realistic. A

“Compared to What”: Is Retrieval Practice Really Better?

Andrew Watson
by: Andrew Watson
Posted on: May 11, 2021

When teachers turn to brain research, we want to know: which way is better? Are handwritten notes better than laptop notes? Is cold-calling better than calling on students who raise their hands? Is it better to spread practice out over time,

Making “Learning Objectives” Explicit: A Skeptic Converted?

Andrew Watson
by: Andrew Watson
Posted on: May 4, 2021

Teachers have long gotten guidance that we should make our learning objectives explicit to our students. The formula goes something like this: “By the end of the lesson, you will be able to [know and do these several things].” I’ve

The Pattern Seekers: How Autism Drives Human Invention by Simon Baron-Cohen

Rebecca Gotlieb
by: Rebecca Gotlieb
Posted on: April 30, 2021

Cambridge University professor of psychology and psychiatry, Simon Baron-Cohen, recently published The Pattern Seekers: How Autism Drives Human Invention. Baron-Cohen argues that for the last 70,000-100,000 years humans have been the only species with the “Systemizing Mechanism,” or the ability

Introducing “Interteaching” (Works Online Too!)

Andrew Watson
by: Andrew Watson
Posted on: April 27, 2021

Have you heard of “interteaching” before? Me neither. The headlines for this blog sound like this: “INTERTEACHING” HELPFULLY BALANCES TEACHER AND STUDENT EFFORT/RESPONSIBILITY and “INTERTEACHING” WORKS ONLINE AND ASYNCHRONOUSLY, according to recent research. Let’s take those headlines one at a

The Rise and Fall and Rise of Growth Mindset

Andrew Watson
by: Andrew Watson
Posted on: April 20, 2021

Few theories in education have had a more dramatic story arc than Carol Dweck’s “Mindset.” Based on research she started in the early 1970s, Dweck published her sumptuously-titled book Mindset, The New Psychology of Success: How We Can Learn to

Proxy Battles: The Value of Handshakes at the Door

Andrew Watson
by: Andrew Watson
Posted on: April 13, 2021

Should teachers welcome students to the classroom with elaborate individual handshakes? Or — in these COVIDian days of ours — with elaborate dances? (If you’re on Twitter, you can check out @thedopeeducator’s post from March 17 of 2021 for an

The 10-Minute Rule: Is The Lecture Dead?

Andrew Watson
by: Andrew Watson
Posted on: April 6, 2021

The “10-minute rule” offers teachers practical guidance. It typically sounds something like this: If students aren’t intrinsically interested in material, they can pay attention to it for no more than 10 minutes. Ergo: teachers should do something different every ten