-
Classroom Decorations Can Distract Young Students
Scientific American: Remember your kindergarten classroom? The maps on the wall, the charts of the seasons on bulletin boards, the alphabet over the blackboard? I know I spent hours staring at the brightly colored decorations—and
-
Highlighting Isn’t Helping You Remember Anything, and Four More Surprising Facts About Learning
New York Magazine: In the recent book Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, Washington University in St. Louis psychologists Henry L. Roediger and Mark A. McDaniel reveal some surprising things we get wrong about
-
Is it Better to Learn Something in Small, Frequent Chunks of Information?
TIME: It is better to learn small chunks of information, frequently, than big chunks, infrequently. I will explain by presenting several ideas from experts on learning and then combining them. In 1956, a cognitive psychologist, from
-
Rethinking the Colorful Kindergarten Classroom
The New York Times: Imagine a kindergarten classroom. Picture the vividly colored scalloped borders on the walls, the dancing letters, maybe some charming cartoon barnyard animals holding up “Welcome to School!” signs. That bright, cheery look
-
Are Teachers Distracting Students with Bad Interior Design?
Fast Company: Few environments feature such a cacophony of decor as the elementary school classroom. Colorful bulletin boards, scientific posters, state maps, and student artwork tend to cover nearly every inch of wall space. Yet
-
What’s Lost as Handwriting Fades
The New York Times: Does handwriting matter? Not very much, according to many educators. The Common Core standards, which have been adopted in most states, call for teaching legible writing, but only in kindergarten and
