Most teachers have experienced the same situation: a student can read a large number correctly but struggles to explain why each digit has a different value. Constructing numbers is a key skill in the development of logical-mathematical thinking…
Varying Retrieval Practice to Promote Transfer of Learning: A Set of Experiments
In today’s post, I’m covering a set of experiments published by Andrew Butler and colleagues (1) titled Retrieving and Applying Knowledge to Different Examples Promotes Transfer of Learning. I really like this paper for a few reasons. First and foremost, …
GUEST POST: Fostering Moxie at the Mic
At The Learning Scientists, our mission is to make evidence-based practice available to the people who want and need it—teachers, students, and educators of all kinds. Of course, we hope our readers have also learned that we care deeply about …
Unwanted Ease
AI and learning has been in the news recently. The Economist recently featured data from a study of 7-12 grade Chinese students’ homework and exam scores and AI use (1). Students who relied heavily on generative AI to complete their homework scored highly on their homework, but did not fare as well on exams. However, students who either didn’t use generative AI, or who only used it strategically, did not perform as well on their homework, but performed better than their peers on their exam.
Call for Sharing Teaching Practice and Repost of Student Ability, Self-Regulated Spaced Practice, and Performance In Online Learning
I’m in the middle of preparing for the fast-approaching academic year. Together with a colleague, I will be teaching a brand-new course (‘Life Lab: The Art and Science of Thriving‘) and I’m looking forward to it.…
Digest #185: Executive Functioning
I was sharing with some friends in special education that we have several talks they might be interested in, especially at the intersection of neurodiversity and executive functioning. So today, I’m reviewing several related resources that might be useful for others in this space.