Research on growth mindset took the education world by storm in the 2000’s, prompting excitement and criticism. We read a large scale expansion of the growth mindset research that addresses some of the most common criticisms of past work and provides actionable guidance for classroom teachers. Later, we look at how different forms of feedback… Read More »
031 Nahuel & Auriana Investigate K-12 Physics
Even young students can begin to understand abstract topics like quantum mechanics, if given the chance. Nahuel Acosta and Auriana Anderson join us to discuss their research related to delivering guest lessons on quantum mechanics in K-12 classrooms. We learn why teaching quantum mechanics concepts early is useful, what their research revealed about their students’… Read More »
030 Season 2 Finale
Summer is a time for reflection and renewal of purpose. We pause from our usual analysis of research and news to reflect on the past year. We’ll pull back the curtain on how and why we’ve made some of our show decisions this past year. We’ll also wrestle with what we hope to do better… Read More »
029 Skills and Content
We must balance teaching content knowledge and professional skills. Will Dunn joins as a guest host on an episode dedicated to exploring how we pursue this balance throughout educational practice. We start with a discussion of how we should situate competencies in standards. Later, we read about the theory of embodied cognition. This theory… Read More »
028 Retrieval and Summer
Retrieval of information is a demanding cognitive process, and teachers must find instructional approaches that improve later retrieval of learned material. We discuss how different student experiences lead to varied success in retrieval, and how it might affect our choices for the experiences we provide in our classroom. Later, we read an updated analysis… Read More »
027 Reading and Metacognition
Open Educational Resources (OERs) are an emerging alternative to commercial textbooks, but how do new technologies compare to traditional options? Dr. Virginia Clinton joins us to discuss her recent papers “Savings without sacrifice: a case report on open-source textbook adoption” and “Reading from paper compared to screens: A systematic review and meta‐analysis”. Later, we… Read More »
026 Perspectives and Networks
Problems in education are often a complex mix of social, cognitive, and historical processes. Dr. Beth Holland, author of a recent Education Week piece we read, joins us to talk about education perspective. Later, Dr. Holland shares her expertise in studying school networks as we discuss how we can get more from our efforts… Read More »
025 Factories and Cohesion
The notion that “schools are designed like a factory” is a pernicious myth in education. Jenn Binis, host of the podcast Ed History 101, joins us to discuss why this narrative is so prevalent and how the myth ends up hurting teachers. Later, we read a paper on how teachers build social capital in… Read More »
024 Innovation and Highlights
Good teaching requires creativity, but how do we create a supportive environment for innovative teaching? We read an article that lays out how an “innovation commons” allows people to innovate, and we discuss how we could build an innovation commons in education. Later, Youki Terada joins us for an extended Peer Review. Youki has… Read More »
023 Software and Spaces
Algorithms that effectively guide instruction are the dream of some people… but the reality of what instructional programs can do right now is something else entirely. Shane Lawrence guest hosts this month as we discuss a recent study on how computer-assisted instruction compared to human teachers. Later, we look at some urban planning research… Read More »