In a couple weeks, I will be conducting my first research study at a school in Seattle. Here's a slightly edited version of the post I wrote for their community newsletter. In 1885, Hermann Ebbinghaus discovered that we tend to forget the things we learn at a highly predictable rate. What made the discovery of the … Continue reading My Research
Effective Feedback with Online Learners: Corrective vs. Suggestive vs. Epistemic Feedback
I've found feedback to be something of a unifier between teachers of diverse persuasions. Whether you're tech-savvy or tech-averse, traditional or progressive, elementary or secondary, everyone seems able to agree that a feedback-rich learning environment is something to strive for. But what sorts of feedback are most likely to yield the best results? My epiphany … Continue reading Effective Feedback with Online Learners: Corrective vs. Suggestive vs. Epistemic Feedback
Scheduling Remote Learning to Allow for “Flow”
There are few concepts in education more mystical than the flow experience, a state in which the learner becomes so deeply immersed in the activity at hand that time becomes distorted, the need for food or sleep disappears, and concentration reaches extraordinary heights (Csikszentmihalyi, 2014). You've most likely experienced flow, or extended hyperfocus, before, perhaps … Continue reading Scheduling Remote Learning to Allow for “Flow”
A Learning Pyramid Profession
This week I tweeted a thread that started with this learning pyramid: https://twitter.com/MrZachG/status/1262938445158117376?s=20 For anyone who didn't know already, everything about the Learning Pyramid is fake (Letrud & Hernes, 2018). There have been numerous iterations of it passed around at education conferences and, yes, Twitter too, for more than 160 years! Do a Google image … Continue reading A Learning Pyramid Profession
The Unproductive Debate of Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Learning
Like millions of people around the globe right now, I am practicing social distancing. One valid point that has been brought up online is that the term should really be physical distancing rather than social distancing; Of course self-isolation and quarantine separate us geographically, but the psychological space between us doesn't have to be so … Continue reading The Unproductive Debate of Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Learning
Lessons from Cognitive Science that I’ve Used to Improve my Teaching
I recently gave a presentation called The Cognitive Science of Creative Subjects at Learning2Asia, a conference which I thought was an incredibly well-run by Nanjing International School. The format of the workshop was really fun: Teachers do mostly hands-on, design-related experiments on themselves to sort of demonstrate how different principles in cognitive science work. I also … Continue reading Lessons from Cognitive Science that I’ve Used to Improve my Teaching
Beyond Piaget and Vygotsky: Why Teachers’ Cognitive Science Education is Insufficient
I have a challenge for you readers. Name two psychologists/cognitive scientists whose research has impacted education in the past twenty years. Were you able to? Perhaps that was too easy. New challenge! Name two psychologists/cognitive scientists who have published impactful work in the past twenty years AND were also featured at a workshop or PD session that … Continue reading Beyond Piaget and Vygotsky: Why Teachers’ Cognitive Science Education is Insufficient
Taking the Plunge: Should America’s Teachers Consider Moving to Teach Overseas?
Followers of this website will know that Education Rickshaw is a blog on teaching and living overseas. My wife Stephanie and myself, both raised attending public schools Tacoma, Washington, were teachers at a Native American school before “taking the plunge” and moving to teach at an international school in Vietnam. Since then, we’ve taught in … Continue reading Taking the Plunge: Should America’s Teachers Consider Moving to Teach Overseas?
Do Teachers Need Research to Be Good Teachers?
Seasoned teachers know a lot about how to do their jobs, and can generally execute the default instruction that we're all familiar with pretty well. Practical knowledge of this kind is sometimes referred to as craft knowledge or wisdom of practice, and it forms the basis of some national teaching assessments (Leinhardt, 2007). While craft knowledge includes … Continue reading Do Teachers Need Research to Be Good Teachers?
After 100 Years of the Same Teaching Model It’s Time to Throw Out the Playbook
Thank you for visiting educationrickshaw.com! My name is Dr. Zach Groshell and... I wrote this blog a while ago and I no longer agree with many of the points in here! I could delete it, but then I'd never be able to go back and compare what I used to think with my current beliefs … Continue reading After 100 Years of the Same Teaching Model It’s Time to Throw Out the Playbook
Education Rickshaw 