Here at Learning and the Brain, we like research-informed teaching suggestions. At the same time, we remember Prof. Dan Willingham’s timeless motto: “one study is just one study, folks.” That is: one study might show a particular conclusion – but The post Cultural Field Trips: Do They Really Enhance SEL? appeared first on Education & Teacher Conferences ..read more

Because we teachers are a busy lot, we sometimes want simplicity and clarity: “I’m honestly too busy to sort through all the options and variables; just tell me what to do.“ In fact, when I went to my first Learning and The post Should We Teach Math and English the Same Way? appeared first on Education & Teacher Conferences ..read more

In this blog, we typically highlight the benefits of prior knowledge. For example: if a student knows a lot about baseball, she’ll be much more successful in understanding a reading passage about baseball. That same student could struggle mightily with The post When Prior Knowledge Bites Back: The Dangers of Knowing Too Much appeared first on Education & Teacher Conferences ..read more

Geoffrey Cohen, a professor of Psychology at Stanford University, explores the science of self and sense of belonging in work, school, politics, relationships, and society at large. He works from an intervention perspective attempting to understand not through observation alone The post Belonging by Geoffrey Cohen appeared first on Education & Teacher Conferences ..read more

If we’re going to make “research-based” claims about education — and we are! — then we better have the research goods. So, how can we at Learning and the Brain — and you as teachers and administrators — find and The post ChatGPT and Beyond: The Best Online Resources for Evaluating Research Claims appeared first on Education & Teacher Conferences ..read more

Here’s a common problem: your job today is to teach a boring topic. (You don’t think it’s boring, but your students always complain…) What’s a teacher to do? One plausible strategy: You might enliven this topic in some entertaining way. You’ve The post “Seductive Details” meet “Retrieval Practice”: A Match Made in Cognitive Heaven appeared first on Education & Teacher Conferences ..read more

We’ve known for many years now that retrieval practice works. That is: after we have introduced students to a topic, we might REVIEW it with them the next day. However, they’ll remember it better if we ask them to try to The post Starting Class with “Prequestions”: Benefits, Problems, Solutions appeared first on Education & Teacher Conferences ..read more

Few debates rage hotter in education circles than that between educational progressives and educational traditionalists. (I’m emphasizing “educational” in these phrases, because they don’t necessarily align with political trad/prog divides. This blog doesn’t do politics.) One recent summary — relying The post The Trad/Prog Debate Gets Weird appeared first on Education & Teacher Conferences ..read more

The founder and director of the Emotional and Self-Control Laboratory at the University of Michigan, Ethan Cross has been a leading voice in a field that is helping us understand the workings of the conscious mind and how understanding its The post CHATTER BY ETHAN CROSS appeared first on Education & Teacher Conferences ..read more

Many times over the last several years, I’ve heard enthusiastic reviews of a seemingly-magical book called The Hidden Lives of Learners, by Graham Nuthall. Here’s the magic: Nuthall’s frankly astonishing research method. Working in New Zealand classrooms in the 1980s, he The post The Hidden Lives of Learners appeared first on Education & Teacher Conferences ..read more