Have you ever been listening to one of your teacher's lessons and thought that it had no relevance to your own life? You're not alone. Just about every student has felt the same way. Sure, you use critical thinking skills in the classroom to solve word problems in math, write essays in … [Read more...] about Critical Thinking in Everyday Life
Want a Deep Understanding? First, Know How Little You Know
It's natural to feel we have a deep understanding of the world. Unfortunately, we most often don't. On the whole, we tend to think we understand how things work in much more detail than we actually do. Scientists continue to show us just how complex the world really is. And the devices we … [Read more...] about Want a Deep Understanding? First, Know How Little You Know
Study Skills Activities to Promote Independent Learning
Your school year is going fairly smoothly. With your carefully crafted lessons and strong scaffolds, students seem to be getting the material reasonably well. Then you start to wonder… Would they be able to learn more about the topic on their own? Or in college, where the instructors leave … [Read more...] about Study Skills Activities to Promote Independent Learning
Teaching Study Skills to Empower Your Students
Too often, conscientious students show up to class thinking that your job is to lay out the perfect plan for them to learn. And theirs is simply to glide through it. It’s frustrating because you do try to design lessons that will help all of your students to master the material. But the … [Read more...] about Teaching Study Skills to Empower Your Students
How to Study Efficiently and Remember What You Study
School is unreal. Imagine you’re suffering through an algebra class. Graph this weird function. Can you solve for Y? You move on to physics. The teacher discusses electrons spinning around neutrons and protons. You shake your head. None of this is real. Pure fantasy land. What can you … [Read more...] about How to Study Efficiently and Remember What You Study
Teaching Kids to Program Computers
As we propel headlong into the 21st century, there is increasing interest in teaching kids to program computers. A few schools have been teaching kids to program for decades. Others are seeking ways to include it now. Yet, programming has often been treated as a specialized technical skill. It … [Read more...] about Teaching Kids to Program Computers