The value of testing – on the back of a postage stamp
In an effort to spread the word about some of the most robustly researched psychological effects which can be used to support learning, I've been having a go at creating gimmicky memes. This one is on the 'testing effect', or as it's sometimes called, retrieval practice. I've written about the testing effect before here and have discussed some of the recent research evidence in more depth here. But for those who [...]
The rise of the unscrupulous optimist
"Optimism, n.: The doctrine or belief that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly." Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary Education is a project filled with hope. We stand, framed heroically against the setting sun and scan the horizon for new stuff to transform the tired, outmoded, factory clamour of the past and hope - oh, how we hope - that everything will be better. But our forward-looking, progressive stance means we can all [...]
February on The Learning Spy
February was cold, dark, wet and miserable. Which probably explains why I go so much writing done. Here are all of my posts from lat month in one convenient digest. Learning about learning: What every teacher needs to know A report from the US National Council on Teacher Quality reveals the 'big six' strategies we should all know. More guff on creativity There really people who believe that being creative means you don't [...]
The role of teachers is not to make managers’ lives easier
"To supervise people, you must either surpass them in their accomplishments or despise them." Benjamin Disraeli Questions about the purpose of education divide and bedevil: there's no real agreement about what education is for. But what about teachers? Surely, even if we disagree about what exactly teachers ought to teach we all at least agree they should be teaching children something? And - at least in theory - I think we do, [...]
Why do edtech folk react badly to scepticism? Part 3: Sunk cost fallacy
After writing a fairly frivolous article expressing scepticism about using iPads in schools, and then experiencing a torrent of invective from various iPadistas, I began a series of posts exploring why asking questions about education technology provokes such an egregious responses. In Part 1 I wrote about vested interest and in Part 2 I addressed confirmation bias. The focus of this third installment is the sunk cost fallacy. We have an irrational [...]
What are they learning?
Learning is never neutral. Although I have no empirical evidence, I'm pretty sure that it's rare indeed for children - or indeed anyone - to learn nothing in a given situation. My contention is that children are always learning something even if that thing is not what a teacher wants or expects them to learn. In a lesson, students might learn what we have planned for them to learn, or they might [...]
What every teacher needs to know about… rote learning
As per, here's this month's Teach Secondary column for you delight and edification. These days it is rare indeed for children to be taught much by rote, or, to use a less pejorative term, by heart. Rote remains a much maligned and neglected method of instruction. Certain ways of thinking about education are so ingrained that they become understood increasingly literally and separately from the complexity of ideas that originally gave them [...]
Why do edtech folk react badly to scepticism? Part 2: Confirmation bias
In Part 1 I explored the concept of vested interest and how it could lead us to make decisions and react in ways which might, to others, appear irrational. This post address another predictable way we make mistakes: the confirmation bias. Confirmation bias, the tendency to over value data which supports an pre-existing belief, is something to which we all routinely fall victim. We see the world as we want it to [...]
Just semantics? Subtle but important misunderstandings about learning styles, modalities, and preferences
This is a guest blog from Yana Weinstein, Assistant Professor at University of Massachusetts, Lowell, one of the masterminds behind the wonderful Learning Scientists site. Scientists get quite attached to terms that describe the constructs they are studying. This is because you can’t measure something until you’ve defined what you think it is – and for convenience - labelled it. The naming process itself is fairly arbitrary. A researcher discovers an effect or proposes [...]
Why do edtech folk react badly to scepticism? Part 1: Vested interest
"It's difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it." Upton Sinclair. I'm sceptical about the benefits of 'edtech'. This is, I think, a legitimate position to hold. It doesn't make me a Luddite: I'm enthusiastic about the advantages generally of technology, I'm just not so sure about the ways in which 'edtech' is sold to schools. Since writing this piece on my exasperation [...]
One more nail in the Learning Styles coffin…
We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it: She'll close and be herself, whilst our poor malice Remains in danger of her former tooth. Shakespeare, Macbeth Just when you think you've found a way to put the tortured soul of Learning Styles out of its pitiful misery, it lurches horribly back to life. For a moment I almost believed my last post, The Learning Styles myth debunked on the back of [...]
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