As I've written before, replacing explicit instruction (not just lecturing, but a scaffolded combination of interactive modeling, questioning, and practice) with fun but trivial activities is not the key to students' hearts. If anything, this causes disillusionment and resentment. Kids are smart enough to recognize that their education is being wasted. In this post, I'd … Continue reading Playing Around with Kids’ Education
S2E2: Jasmine Lane on Subject Expertise and Why She’ll Never Go Back to Teaching in the U.S.
In this episode of the Progressively Incorrect podcast, I had the pleasure of speaking with Jasmine Lane. Jasmine is a secondary English teacher who recently moved from the U.S. to teach in England. I first came across Jasmine through her blog, jasmineteaches.wordpress.com, which was originally about her experiences as a first-year teacher. Back in those … Continue reading S2E2: Jasmine Lane on Subject Expertise and Why She’ll Never Go Back to Teaching in the U.S.
S2E1: Paul A. Kirschner on Minimally Guided Instruction and Cognitive Load
In this episode of the Progressively Incorrect podcast, I had the pleasure of speaking with Paul A. Kirschner. Paul is Emeritus Professor at the Open University of the Netherlands as well as Guest Professor at the Thomas More University of Applied Sciences in Antwerp, Belgium. He is the author of several books, including How Learning … Continue reading S2E1: Paul A. Kirschner on Minimally Guided Instruction and Cognitive Load
Unboxing the Science of Learning
https://youtu.be/s4g7JUEivdo Two pieces of mail arrived at my house recently, just around my birthday. The first was my author's copy of the book, Amplifying Instructional Design, which can be purchased on Amazon. I had a blast writing my chapter, which you can learn more about in an interview I'm featured in, here. The second package … Continue reading Unboxing the Science of Learning
Assessment and Feedback Strategies Livestream
In a few short weeks, a book I'm featured in, Amplify Learning: A Global Collaborative, will be released. I'm the author of the chapter on assessment and feedback. On May 26, 2022, 7PM EST, I will be talking with the lead authors of the project about some of the assessment and feedback strategies that I … Continue reading Assessment and Feedback Strategies Livestream
Can Students Really Self-Differentiate?
Take a look at the screenshot below. It shows a learning activity containing a menu with two choices. Clicking the right button leads to a problem that the student must solve, and clicking the left button leads to an example that shows the student how to solve that sort of problem. This activity is one … Continue reading Can Students Really Self-Differentiate?
Do We Want Our Students to Struggle?
Like so many buzzwords in education, it's hard to pin down what people mean by the term "Productive Struggle". Of the two meanings of Productive Struggle I've heard being used most often, the good meaning is uncontroversial, and the bad - and more popular - meaning encourages teachers to abandon principles of effective instruction. The … Continue reading Do We Want Our Students to Struggle?
Instructional Videos: Perfect for Learning Styles, Popular with Students, and THE FUTURE of Education!
Last week I attended a government-sponsored training on instructional video that began with three weird reasons for why teachers should use more instructional video: Instructional videos cater to students' learning stylesInstructional videos are more popular with students (i.e., they like them) than alternative methodsInstructional videos are the future of learning I'm sure fans of this … Continue reading Instructional Videos: Perfect for Learning Styles, Popular with Students, and THE FUTURE of Education!
Cringe!
My last blog post seems to have been this site’s 200th post. What a journey it’s been. Long time readers may have noticed that Stephanie (my wife) used to contribute about half of the posts on educationrickshaw.com. Lately she’s been too busy being one of the best literacy specialists in the country to be messing … Continue reading Cringe!
Can a Theory Improve Your Teaching?
If much of what we learned in teacher training was not very useful once we got to the classroom, and if some theories we were taught, like learning styles, were just plain false, it's tempting to conclude that theory has little to offer the busy teacher. Having used cognitive load theory to streamline my teaching, I can't agree.
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