We might be inclined to reassure our anxious students, and advise them to “remain calm.” This research, however, suggests a surprising alternative.
Search Results for: positive stress
March-14-2016
A Google image search for “stress” makes our culture’s attitude about the concept immediately clear. There are pictures of people pulling their hair, eyes wide and mouth gaping, a word cloud filled with words like “worry” and “depression,” and even a woman intensely biting her laptop. In short, we hate stress. Although it is often […]
October-18-2015
I recently watched a Ted Talk1 by Dr. Nadine Burke Harris where she addressed the effects of childhood trauma on health. Her 16 minute talk discussed how trauma leads to higher risks of heart disease, early death, and even lung cancer. At the heart of her talk was the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study2, a groundbreaking research […]
April-20-2025
When a conference speaker announces that “a student’s emotions matter for their learning,” few teachers rock back in surprise. OF COURSE emotions matter for learning. Who would have thought otherwise? At the same time, we’re probably curious to know how emotions influence learning. In fact, once we ask that question, some sense of surprise might start […]
March-16-2025
Do we want our students to ENJOY math, or to BE SKILLED AT math? At first, this question sounds like a false choice. Obviously, we want BOTH. As an English teacher, I want my students to have fun analyzing the books we read…and I want their analyses to have heft, merit, and substance. I suspect […]
November-17-2024
The field of education often races to extremes, and the field of Growth Mindset has been an especially good example of this trend. Back in the 2006 when Carol Dweck published her book, schools rushed to be as Growth Mindset-y as possible. Posters adorned walls; Janelle Monaie made a Sesame Street video reminding children about “the Power […]
September-17-2024
In Rewired: Protecting Your Brain in the Digital Age, Dr. Carl D. Marci takes readers on a fascinating journey into how our brains are adapting (or struggling to adapt) in the digital age. According to Marci, our brain wiring is not predetermined but develops extensively outside the womb as we encounter new challenges. He seeks […]
August-18-2024
We spend A LOT of time working to prevent student working memory overload. In this post, our blogger asks about the dangers of TEACHER working memory overload. If I could pick one topic from cognitive science for ALL TEACHERS to study, that topic would be working memory. This small mental capacity allows us to select, […]
July-07-2024
A friend recently told me about his classroom experience using mindfulness to promote thoughtful and effective writing. He started the year by explaining the benefits of mindfulness to his students. After that introduction, he began each class period with five minutes of mindful silence. Although he wasn’t running a research study, he kept two kinds […]
January-16-2024
If I could pick one topic from cognitive science for ALL TEACHERS to study, that topic would be working memory. This small mental capacity allows us to select, hold, reorganize, and combine bits of information (and other things). So, if you try to put the five days of the work week in alphabetical order, you’re […]