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The Curse of Knowledge: Pinker Describes a Key Cause of Bad Writing
The more you know, the less clearly you write. That’s a simple way of summing up one of APS Fellow Steven A. Pinker’s key insights on the cognitive and psycholinguistic factors that fuel arcane, awkward
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Teaching Lessons that Last
Regan A.R. Gurung thinks of students’ learning using the metaphor of a pearl in an oyster. During the Opening Plenary of the 2015 APS–Society for the Teaching of Psychology Teaching Institute, the University of Wisconsin–Green
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Overcoming the Classroom Environment
The modern classroom is a recent development in the evolution of education and an obstacle for teachers: Evidence from cross-species, cross-cultural, and developmental domains demonstrates that the typical lecture hall is an inhospitable environment for
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The Sense of Style
Let’s face it: Most academics are terrible communicators. Why do the world’s most cerebral people find it so hard to convey their ideas? And how can we learn to do better? I suggest that the
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Why I give my students a ‘tragedy of the commons’ extra credit challenge
The Washington Post: Imagine you’re a student and your teacher poses this challenge to the entire class: You can each earn some extra credit on your term paper. You get to choose whether you want
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What Are the Best and Worst Ways to Prepare for an Exam?
Scientific American: Daniel Willingham, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and author of Raising Kids Who Read: What Parents and Teachers Can Do, responds: So glad you asked! Scientists have a lot