Understanding your learners In a recent post by Breana Bayraktar, she explains that better understanding the students we teach provides us with an advantage in that we can customize our teaching in ways that connect with their motivations and maximize their learning. While she notes, “It’s not always possible to adapt learning materials and activities to each… Read more »
metacognition
Integrating Retrieval Practice into classroom instruction
Retrieval practice is one of the most effective methods of learning and remembering information for long-term use. During retrieval practice, students “retrieve” what they know about a topic or lesson out of their memory. Retrieval practice requires effort on the part of the student to recall specific information, which is beneficial to improving learning and… Read more »
Interactive Lecturing
In the book, Instructional Moves for Powerful Teaching in Higher Education, there is a chapter on the advantages of interactive lectures. The writers note, “a traditional lecture may feel like an effective, efficient means of communicating information, but when instructors use class time to only profess what they know without interruption, this deprives students of opportunities… Read more »
Incorporating metacognitive practices into your class
Dr. Sandra McGuire https://faculty.lsu.edu/smcgui1/ is an expert in supporting faculty in helping students learn how to learn in their class. She argues that most students come to college underprepared. Specifically, she advocates for metacognitive equity, or closing the gap between students who use metacognition (effective thinking and learning strategies) and those who do not. (https://digital.library.txst.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/0516466a-bf01-4aff-a0ba-9c326f59d464/content). She argues… Read more »
Teaching Tip: Assignment Deadlines
Hannah R. Snyder, Assistant Prof. of Psychology at Brandeis University, is interested in understanding risk and resilience factors for mental health in college students and young adults, focusing on how stress, cognitive function (especially executive function), and coping strategies interact, given that adolescence and emerging adulthood (early 20s) are periods of heightened risk for mental health… Read more »
Creating an Equitable Classroom through Embedded Learning Strategies
This summer I will send tips aimed to help you as you update (or create) your syllabus and course for the Fall. Also, if you would like to meet about your course this summer, just respond to this email to schedule a consultation (face-to-face or Zoom). Many of the tips I will write about are… Read more »
Helping students engage in active learning during class
Active learning is commonly defined as activities that students do to construct knowledge and understanding. The activities vary but require students to engage in higher order thinking skills such as critical thinking. Although not always explicitly noted, metacognition—students’ thinking about their own learning—is an important element, providing the link between activity and learning. In one of… Read more »
Making Thinking Visible
This summer, faculty from the Texas Institute for Discovery Education in Science (TIDES) at the University of Austin, held a workshop on metacognition which started with a couple basic assumptions: Instructors want students to learn Learning is the result of thinking. They argued that the connection between learning and thinking is a connection we often… Read more »