The Science of Learning: 99 Studies That Every Teacher Needs to Know, 2nd Edition
Authors: Edward Watson and Bradley Busch 
ISBN-13: 978-0367620790
​
APA Style Citation
Busch, B, and Watson, E. (2020). The Science of Learning: 99 Studies That Every Teacher Needs to Know (2nd ed.). Routledge.

Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Science-Learning-Studies-Every-Teacher/dp/0367620790

​

Book Description
The Science of Learning explores research in educational and cognitive psychology and how it can be applied to help students learn better. It points out that despite the vast amount of research in this area, teachers often need help finding and interpreting lengthy and complex academic papers.
 
For example, the results of one study in the book looked like this in the journal:

Authors Edward Watson and Bradley Busch aim to spark and inform discussions about the science of learning and its application in classrooms. They provide practical insights for teachers' professional development, including specific examples such as adjusting teaching methods based on research findings, implementing retrieval practices, and incorporating regular breaks for improved focus and energy.
 
The book's layout simplifies complex research, making it accessible to educators and students. Understanding the research is essential, but implementing it is another challenge. The authors take a study and delve deeper into practical implementation methods and potential obstacles and challenges teachers may encounter.
 
The book presents essential research findings from various fields relevant to education, each structured like an episode of the TV show "Friends," such as "The one about how much we forget" or "The one about cognitive load." Each study includes detailed sections comprising a short description of the study, main findings, related research, and classroom implications. Many studies also feature quantitative and qualitative data displayed in graphs, charts, and images to enhance understanding.
 
Additionally, the book offers separate sections titled "Tips for improving memory," "Tips for improving mindset, motivation, and resilience," "Tips for improving self-regulation and metacognition," "Tips for students," "Tips for teachers' attitudes, expectations, and behaviors," "Tips for parents," and "Tips for overcoming thinking biases." These sections provide practical strategies based on the research findings to support educators, students, and parents in various aspects of teaching and learning.
 
Furthermore, the book includes a section titled "When the Science of Learning Meets the Art of Teaching," which delves into key topics such as retrieval practice, creating a growth culture, developing independent learners, managing mobile phones, mastering classroom management, fostering a home environment that aids learning, and enhancing self-awareness through self-reflection.
 
Finally, the book concludes with a complete reference list of all studies cited, providing readers access to further information and resources. Through its engaging presentation and actionable insights, "The Science of Learning" will help students review and apply research in psychological science. For teachers of AP Psychology, this book is an excellent source to help students develop science practices related to research methods, statistics, and data interpretation. 

​Other Related Resources
Author’s website
https://www.innerdrive.co.uk/about-us/who-we-are/
 
InnerDrive Blog
https://blog.innerdrive.co.uk/
 
InnerDrive Education Resources
https://www.innerdrive.co.uk/education-resources/
 
Video describing the author’s five favorite educational studies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SDGPmWciAE
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Academic buoyancy
Cognitive load
Dunning-Kruger effect
Effort contagion
Forgetting curve
Growth mindset
IKEA effect
Impostor syndrome
Interleaving
Köhler effect
Metacognition
Mindset
Motivation
Planning fallacy
Primacy effect
Proactive interference
Pygmalion in the classroom
Resilience
Retrieval practice
Retroactive interference
Schema theory
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Self-regulated learning
Social rejection
Spacing effect
Spotlight effect
Talent bias
Transfer of learning
Working memory
 
 

​Study Like A Champ: The Psychology-Based Guide to ‘Grade A’ Study Habits
Author: Regan A.R. Gurung and John Dunlosky
ISBN: 978-1-4338-4017-3

​APA Style Citation
Gurung, R. A. R., & Dunlosky, J. (2023). Study like a champ: the psychology-based
guide to grade A study habits. American Psychological Association. 

Book Description
This book is a must-read for high school and college students and educators alike. Study Like a Champ opens with a research-based answer to the frequent student question, “What do I need to do to get an A?” Written by psychology professors and longtime advocates for high school psychology. Regan A.R. Gurung, Ph.D., a​nd John Dunlosky Ph.D. The book is packed with practical tips for studying smarter, not harder, and lays out a method for students to plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning for optimal success. The book debunks many firmly held myths about how to study commonly held by students and illustrates effective and empirically based methods for improving study habits and academic results. The authors also address commonly held teacher myths, including the learning pyramid that proposes the amount of learning by students is correlated with the instructional strategy used. Lecture is depicted as having the worst outcomes for student learning retention. This myth causes teachers to avoid lectures out of concern for decreased student learning. Like many methods, lectures can be effective or ineffective depending on the quality and topics discussed. The authors discuss how active learning, such as teaching others or discussion, can sometimes be successful but also how many versions of active learning, such as group work and problem-solving out loud, can harm learning.

Throughout the text are numerous surveys that students can take to evaluate their practices and suggestions for how to utilize scaffolding to build better study habits. This is based on current research conducted by the authors. Each chapter ends with Key Training Tips to stick your landing and Go for the Gold recommendations highlighting advanced reading related to the topics presented.
Chapter one, titled, So You Think You Know How to Study? Let’s FoK About it, challenges students to evaluate their study habits to determine and compare them with evidence-based best practices. Fok, according to cognitive psychology, is a feeling of knowing that exists for any class, assignment, or topic and can be strong or weak. Unfortunately, cognitive science finds that FoKs are often inaccurate. Individuals can feel that they know something well and find out from an assessment that it was not the case or vice versa. This chapter has an excellent survey for students to evaluate their current study habits, Start Now: How Are Your Study Habits? The chapter then lays out in a compare/contrast style what helps learning based on research as opposed to what does not help learning based on research. The authors help students who use habits less supported by research improve those habits. Although highlighting and rereading (commonly used student study habits) do not support learning, even these habits can be improved. The authors suggest having students highlight strategically by indicating the areas they want to study more and following up on those areas using other methods. Rereading should not be a major strategy and works best if it is part of distributive study.
Subsequent chapters help students plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning and apply specific strategies to their classes and busy schedules. Important methods discussed in the book include self-assessments of metacognition, tools for utilizing class time, effective notetaking, spaced or distributive study, retrieval practice methods, interleaving, worked examples, and winning strategies for combining specific tactics. These practical methods are tied to supporting research, effective graphics, and student self-evaluations throughout each section.
The final chapter is an essential discussion of healthy behaviors and how to cope effectively with the rigorous course schedule and additional commitments modern students face. This book is an excellent tool for teachers that can be used to help students apply findings from psychological science to improve their learning.

Other Related Resources
 
Speaking of Psychology: American Psychological Association Podcast --
“How to Learn Better Using Psychology, with Regan Gurung, Ph.D., and John Dunlosky, Ph.D.”

Psych Sessions Podcast: Convos About Teaching N’ Stuff  Gurung and Dunlosky: Study Like a Champ

​Follow @studychamp22 on Instagram or TikTok — Practical science-based tips from the book to help students study more effectively. The feed includes many compelling graphics to use to highlight research on studying.https://www.instagram.com/studychamp22/https://www.tiktok.com/@studychamp22Inside the Mind of a

Master Procrastinator, TED Talk — Show students this engaging TED Talk by writer Tim Urban after they take the survey in the Open Your Class with This Today activity to get a sense of their current relationship to the topic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU
 
Top 20 Principles for Pre-K to 12 Education ­­
This booklet, produced by the American Psychological Association, clearly outlines the most effective methods for teaching and learning.
The Top 20 are categorized into five areas of psychological functioning:
Thinking and learning: How do students think and learn?
Motivation: What motivates students?
Social-emotional learning: Why are social context, interpersonal relations, and emotional well-being important to student learning?
Classroom management: How can classroom behavior best be managed?
Assessment: How can teachers effectively assess student progress?
Link to Top 20

Psychological Figures and Concepts
Hermann Ebbinghaus
John Hattie
William James
Walter Mischel

Avoidant coping
Blocked practice
Burnout
Conceptual knowledge
Cornell method
Cued recall
Distributed/spaced practice
Encoding
Emotion-focused coping
Flashcard plus method
Feeling of knowing (FoK)
Homeostasis
Hypothalamus
Interleaving
Key-word mnemonics
Massed practice
Matrix method
Meditation
Mental health
Meta-analysis
Method of loci
Mindfulness
Mindset (growth v. fixed)
Motivation
Multitasking
Overconfidence
Pomodoro method
Problem-focused coping
Procrastination
Retrieval practice
Rumination
Test-enhanced learning
Transfer tests
 

Brain Hacks:  Life-Changing Strategies to Improve Executive Functioning
​Author: Lara Honos-Webb, PhD
ISBN number: 13. 978–1641521604
 
APA Style Citation
Honos-Webb. (2018). Life-changing Strategies to Improve Executive Functioning. Althea Press.
 
Buy This Book
BRAIN HACKS: Life-Changing Strategies to Improve Executive Functioning: Honos-Webb PhD, Lara: 9781641521604: Amazon.com: Books

Book Description
According to the APA dictionary, executive function refers to a wide range of high-level cognitive processes (planning, decision-making, problem-solving, action sequencing, task assignment and organization, effortful and persistent goal pursuit, inhibition of competing impulses, flexibility in goal selection, and goal-conflict resolution. These skills often involve language, judgment, abstraction, concept formation, logic, and reasoning). They are related to neural networks in the frontal lobes and especially the prefrontal cortex.
 
Although there is no definitive set of executive functions (researchers define them differently), in Brain Hacks, the author focuses on five specific areas of executive functioning: focus and attention, planning and organization, cognitive flexibility, emotional regulation, and impulse control. Each of the areas is interconnected, and increasing one ability will improve the others. The author is a practicing clinical psychologist who shares her ideas for improving executive functioning across multiple areas. The text begins with short yes/no questionnaires for each of the five executive functioning areas.
 
Sample Questions from the Organization and Planning Executive Function Assessment

• Do you have multiple calendars or apps to manage your time, yet use them infrequently?
• Do you miss out on opportunities because you forget to follow up or track important contacts you have made?
• Do friends, teachers, or family members complain that your space is sloppy?

 
By counting the number of yes responses, students will have a general idea of which of these areas of executive functioning are the most likely sources of challenges or problems. The areas with lower numbers of yes responses are areas of greater strength.    
 
The book provides specific exercises and methods to improve each area of executive functioning, which can be incorporated into classroom activities and projects. Improving in these areas of functioning, according to author Lara Honos-Webb increases personal, academic, and professional success. Improving executive functioning also can lead to increased work-life balance, reduced stress, and improved relationships. The exercises emphasize how small, continual efforts over time create meaningful growth. 
 
Each chapter emphasizes a separate area of executive functioning, provides a summary and background information, including psychological and biological influences, and ends with a bulleted list of key takeaways. There is also a series of exercises, tips, and special “brain hacks” to improve executive functioning. Brain hacks are tips for using the mind’s innate abilities to learn and improve to the greatest advantage. The book is designed as a tool to be used continually instead of being read once as inspiration and is laid out efficiently to find ways to increase functioning in everyday life mindfully. In the psychology classroom, the “brain hacks” and exercises can become engaging classroom activities and projects that allow students to apply what they learn in a personal manner. These activities can be spread across various units in a psychology course, including motivation and emotion, stress and health, neuroscience, memory, clinical, and developmental to increase student engagement and build metacognitive skills.

Psychological Figures and Concepts
Cognitive flexibility
Emotional regulation
Executive functioning
Exposure therapy
Fixed mindset
Focus and attention
Growth mindset
Impulse control
Metacognition
Motivation
Multitasking
Neuroplasticity
Planning and organization
Prefrontal cortex
Resilience
Working memory

​Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning
Authors: Peter C. Brown, Henry Roediger and Mark A. McDaniel
ISBN: 978-0-674-72901-8
 
APA Style Citation
Brown, C.B., Roediger, H., & McDaniel, M. (2014). Make it stick: The science of successful learning. Harvard University Press.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Make-Stick-Science-Successful-Learning/dp/0674729013
 

Book Description
Peter Brown, Henry Roediger, and Mark McDaniel set out to give practical advice on strategies to study more efficiently and effectively. Often, students spend hours poring over material while using rote memorization to cram information into their memories before a large exam. Cognitive science has demonstrated that these strategies are ineffective, but change has been slow to move to more effective strategies. Make it Stick sets out to dispel myths of learning that many use but to little effect, and instead replace these methods with more effective strategies that have been vetted and supported by research.
 
Educators hope that students remember content for exams, but more generally, almost any educator will speak to the importance of applying the content to practical situations and critical thinking skills. This book is for any student or educator who wants to implement successful study strategies that lead to long-term retention.
 
The interleaving process allows students to see how seemingly disparate topics are related. If a psychology class teaches parts of the brain in the biological bases of behavior chapter, they can review these concepts in the memory chapter and again in the clinical chapter. By reviewing the content and finding the relationship between concepts, students understand that information does not exist in silos, and that the information can be applied in multiple settings. Interleaving can also occur when practicing skills, recursive skills applied in different ways can help students transfer these skills to novel situations. If an educator practices the skill of writing an FRQ, students can practice mini-FRQs at the start of the course, complete verbal FRQs via short videos, and apply the same FRQ skill in partners or small groups.
 
Information can be layered and reviewed until students master both content and skill.
Students often sit in class and claim to understand what the teacher says. They can look at flashcards and read their notes, but when it comes time to take the exam, they often still struggle to retrieve the content. Retrieval practice must involve the testing effect in which students actually test themselves on what they know or do not know. Teachers can conduct class discussions in which students take notes but test themselves at the end of the class and write down everything they can remember. What they cannot recall will guide their studying as they have a clear path and focus on what they still need to study. This can also be done electronically with online quizzing sites or paper and pencil exit slips. These tests need not be extensive; a few questions can often allow both instructor and student to understand better where students need extra support in their learning. Using mnemonics can also support student learning by serving as a quick retrieval cue to bring back the information to be remembered. Buzz words or visual analogies are also helpful to achieve this goal. 
 
Once a major assessment has been given, time should be provided to reflect on what students have or have not mastered. They should examine the incorrect questions and review the options to determine the correct response. They should write down what confused them and then continue to explain how they will remember this concept in the future. This metacognition alone has been demonstrated to improve student understanding of the material. Learning is taking place by focusing on what still needs to be understood and thinking deeply about how that can be achieved.
 
Students should also be careful to check their biases, such as confirmation bias or overconfidence, that may now allow them to understand and process all available data. 
Multitasking is a tremendous suck of time, and changing between tasks necessitates that the student reorientates themselves around the task at hand. The Pomodoro method asks students to set a timer for 25 minutes in which they are solely focused on a singular task. This efficiency should allow for more concentration, and the effect will be to create a better project in less time than if multitasking. After the 25 minutes are up, the student can take a break, text a friend, have a snack, or engage in another activity that they enjoy. 
 
We know that when students use rote memorization to recall information, it is ineffective. Instead, they should try to make the material relevant to their own lives. This semantic encoding provides a deeper processing level and leads to long-term information retention. Any opportunity to demonstrate how material is relevant to the individual (self-referent effect) will create a deeper level of understanding.
 
Finally, students who cram for an exam may remember information the next day for a test, but they will find that this information is not retained in the long term. Distributed practice or studying in small chunks is an effective way to transfer information into long-term memory. All things being equal, a student who spends 4 hours studying in 30-minute chunks should perform better and remember information longer than if they were to study for 4 hours straight.
 
Make It Stick provides learning strategies that are backed by cognitive science and that have been demonstrated to be effective. These strategies can be applied or amended to apply to all content areas and across all grade levels. 
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Carol Dweck
Howard Gardner
William James
Daniel Kahneman
B.F. Skinner
Robert Sternberg
Paul Tough
 
Confirmation bias
Consolidation
Context-dependent learning
Distributed practice
Effortful processing
Elaboration
False consensus effect
Feedback
Fluid Intelligence
Flynn effect
Framing effect
Free recall
Forgetting curve
Hindsight bias
Information processing model
Interleaving
Metacognition
Misinformation effect
Mnemonic devices
Neurogenesis
Overconfidence
Repetition
Retrieval practice
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Spaced practice
Synaptic pruning
Systems 1 and 2
Testing effect
Trial and error
Varied practice
Working memory
 
 
Other Resources
Book Website
https://www.retrievalpractice.org/make-it-stick
 
APA Blog: Takeaways from Make it Stick
https://blog.apaonline.org/2020/02/19/takeaways-from-make-it-stick-the-science-of-successful-learning/
 
Online Learning Insights
https://blog.apaonline.org/2020/02/19/takeaways-from-make-it-stick-the-science-of-successful-learning/
 
Experience Life: Make it Stick: How to Learn Effectively
https://blog.apaonline.org/2020/02/19/takeaways-from-make-it-stick-the-science-of-successful-learning/
 
The Scope of Science: 3 Study Tips from the Book Make it Stick
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyHAjVJlGFo
 

​Educated: A Memoir
Author: Tara Westover
ISBN:  978-0-399-59052-8
 
APA Style Citation
Westover, T. (2018). Educated: A memoir. Random House.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Educated-Memoir-Tara-Westover/dp/0399590501
 

​Book Description
Tara Westover’s book describes her upbringing in an ultra-religious, paranoid, and isolated household in rural Idaho. Because of Tara’s father’s paranoia, the household lived mostly off grid. Tara’s mother made medicinal herbs for other families who did not trust traditional medicines and served as a midwife for families who did not want to go to the hospital or did not want the requirement of registering their newborn for a social security card involving recognition from the government. Tara’s father ran a scrap metal business from of their property and was occasionally hired out to do construction work. Tara and her siblings were homeschooled, which mostly involved reading a few old textbooks in their basement. 
 
Tara was the youngest in her family and some of her siblings got married early to others in their ultraconservative church, while others drove trucks, and one brother went off to study at university, which outraged her father essentially ending their relationship. Tara began working in the family scrap yard at a young age with metal being flung over her head and her father expecting her to use and operate heavy mechanical equipment as her older brothers had done. Safety protocols were non-existent and cuts from the metal were frequent, as were accidents with equipment that could have easily been avoided. Tara’s father was badly burned and nearly died and her mother often served as a pseudo-surgeon because of the families refusal to go to the local hospital after a scrap metal injury. 
 
Tara discovered a love for singing and performed at church, as well as in a number of local plays. Surprisingly, her father supported this and encouraged her signing but her attire often had to be modified to adhere to the strict requirements for how females in the church should dress.
 
In addition to the lack of education and dangerous back-breaking work, Tara faced abuse by her older brother. While her brother often supported her and encouraged her, he would fly into a rage and pull her by the hair, put her head in the toilet, or find other ways to abuse her both emotionally and physically. Eventually, she put a lock on her door to protect herself and while it was evident to all in the family that the abuse was occurring, neither of her parents intervened to stop it. 
 
By the time Tara was a teenager, she decided she also wanted to attend university and studied independently for her SAT in order to score high enough to attend. Her father knew she was studying but did little to support her perhaps believing that she would not get in. She did.  
 
When Tara arrived at Brigham Young University (BYU) a whole separate world opened up to her. While she did not have the type of clothes or behaviors as others (washing and cleaning up the apartment became sources of tension with her roommates), she did excel at her studies and worked hard to catch up on all that she had missed out on. Basic historical facts had been distorted in her world and she had never done much writing, so she had to work hard to meet the expectations of the university.
 
Despite the distance from her family, they expected Tara to adhere to the same conservative standards as when she was growing up. She felt tension between her new and old worlds and began to question the teaching of her parents, as well as the neglect, denial, and abuse that had taken place. She earned a scholarship, which allowed her to stay at school and eventually attended graduate school at Trinity College in Cambridge. Despite her outstanding academic record, she still felt uncomfortable in social situations and still lacked funds for stylish clothing or knowing how to behave in novel situations. 
 
Tara eventually attended graduate school at Harvard and found new confidence in her academic abilities and in calling out her family for not intervening while she suffered abuse at the hands of her older brother. While her older sister confided that he had done the same to her, she was mute when it came time for a family confrontation. Tara’s father did not believe the accusation even though he had witnessed the abuse himself. Her brother harassed Tara and threatened to kill her or hire an assassin, still her parents did not believe her. Eventually, she cut them out of her life but was able to rekindle a relationship with some of her other brothers. 
 
She recalls her tragic upbringing no longer as a harrowing story of terror and isolation, but now describes it as “An Education.”
 
Other Related Resources
PBS NewsHour- “Educated” author Tara Westover answers your questions (extended version)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvYg_gp0JPc
 
Aspen Institute- Educated: A Conversation with Tara Westover
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2XWYT-t47E
 
National Public Radio Interview with Tara Westover
https://www.npr.org/2022/02/10/1079882235/author-tara-westover-says-we-need-to-consider-how-people-have-been-educated
 
Vogue: Tara Westover on living off the Grid
https://www.vogue.com/article/tara-westover-memoir-educated-vogue-march-2018-issue
 
Oprah’s podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tara-westover-educated/id1264843400?i=1000437295457
 
 
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Bipolar disorder
Paranoia
Schizophrenia
 

Make Just One Change
Authors: Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana
ISBN-13: 978-1612500997
ISBN-10: 1612500994
 
APA Style Citation
Rothstein, D & Santana, L. (2011). Make just one change. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Make-Just-One-Change-Questions/dp/1612500994
​

​Book Description
How would you describe a student-centered classroom? One answer might include students doing the thinking, talking, and producing. Teachers have all been faced with the sound of crickets after they ask, “Are there any questions?” Perhaps it is because students don’t know how to ask questions. Make Just One Change offers the Question Formulation Technique for the teacher’s toolbox to help students learn how to ask questions.
 
The authors, Rothstein and Santana, recognized the need to be taught how to ask the right questions in school. They were impacted by parents commenting on how they couldn’t help their children with their school work because they didn’t know what questions to ask. The traditional education system has focused on teacher questions and student answers for too long. Instead, all students should learn how to ask questions and teachers can easily incorporate this skill into their lessons. After years of experimenting, the authors have landed on a six-step process that helps students exercise their questioning muscle for future growth. The strategy focuses on divergent thinking (multiple answers), convergent thinking (narrowing of options), and metacognition (thinking about your thinking). With these new skills, students will have an easier time writing essay, reading texts, identifying research questions, designing experiments, participating in Socratic seminars, creating homework assignments, and preparing for tests.
 
When students can ask questions, it improves their ownership in learning, engagement, learning outcomes, and confidence. The Question Formulation Technique helps with teamwork skills and classroom management. It promotes democracy and turn students into life-long learners. It has also been found effective with at-risk students, especially minorities to bridge the achievement gap.
 
A short summary of the six core components has been provided below.
 

1. Question Focus or QFocus

Rather than the traditional prompt, the QFocus is a stimulus to kickstart student questions. It can be a short statement or a visual aid, but it must have a clear focus and NOT be a question. Also, it should stimulate new thinking and stay away from teacher bias. While creating the QFocus, teachers should keep in mind the goal of the lesson and what students will be doing with their questions.
 

1. Produce Questions

Before students start producing questions, it is important to introduce the four essential rules. Each of them have value, and all must be followed. First, ask as many questions as you can. This provides students the authority to ask their questions. Second, do not stop to discuss, judge, or answer the questions. This creates a safe space, along with supporting efficiency, equalizing, and an opening to ideas. Third, write down every question exactly as it is stated. This levels the playing field so all voices can be heard and respected. As a teacher, we know how challenging this can be because we often paraphrase for students. However, students need to practice being able to scribe as accurately as possible. Finally, change any statement into a question. This brings the focus back to questions not statements. Remember, producing questions takes courage. We’ve all heard, “I know this is a stupid question, but…” By following the four rules, students will be provided a safe place to explore the skill of questioning. 
 
After explaining the rules, teachers should help facilitate a discussion on the challenges of using these rules.  Students will discuss the challenges in small groups in order to draw attention to the rules and participate in metacognition. After the discussion, students will start to produce their own questions. The teacher should monitor students and remind them of the rules. If necessary, starters to questions can be provided, such as what, when, or how. However, it is very important to not give examples or questions while supporting students because they will feel there is a correct way of questioning.
 

1. Identify Closed- vs. Open-ended Questions

The type of question asked shapes the information received. The teacher should begin with differentiating closed- vs. open-ended questions. Then, students will review their questions and classify them with either a C or O. After, the teacher will facilitate a discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of both types of questions. Finally, students will practice switching 1-2 of each type of question to its counterpart.  Students may struggle with this step, so the teacher can provide some starters again. Question stems for open-ended questions often start with why or how, whereas closed-ended questions start with is, do, or can. There is value to both types of questions and one may be more helpful than another in certain situations. It is important for students to recognize the value and practice being able to change their questions to the other type. While students are producing and categorizing their questions, they are practicing divergent thinking. When they transition to listing advantages and disadvantages and changing their questions, they have moved on to metacognition and convergent thinking.
 

1. Prioritize Questions

This step is a very important, but often overlooked part of the process. Students must prioritize on a regular basis, such as time management between homework and peers or next steps for a long-term project. As many teachers know, this can be quite challenging for the adolescent brain. For this step, students will discuss, compare, analyze, and prioritize their questions down to three based on the teacher’s criteria (e.g., what students would like to focus on, most important information to students, specific purpose, information to explore further). In addition, students must provide a rationale for their prioritized questions that will be shared with the larger group. The teacher should support students by reminding them of the criteria and validate the reports with a neutral tone, such as “thank you.” When providing what is meant to be positive feedback, such as “great question,” this makes students think there is a correct way of questioning that the teacher is looking for. Students may struggle with this process, but hopefully they will come to a consensus and utilize their convergent thinking.
 

1. Provide Next Steps

Now it will be established what students will do next. The question formulation technique can be used at the beginning, middle, or end of a class or unit. In the beginning it might be used as a starter, to review yesterday’s topic, guide new research, assess knowledge gaps, or shape a future lesson. In the middle it might be used to shape homework, prepare for tests, or identify student misconceptions. In the end, it might be used to review the lesson, prepare for final reports, or set a new research agenda. The next steps are diverse and can be varied throughout the year. When students are using the questions for the purpose set by the teacher, they are practicing their convergent thinking.
 

1. Reflection

The final step has students reflect on the entire process and participate in metacognition. Teachers will develop questions for students to respond to focused on what the student learned, how they learned, and how they feel. The format of reflection also needs to be decided, whether it will be written or discussion based. Sometimes there may not be enough time and teachers remove this step. However, enhancing metacognitive skills for students should not be skipped.
 
Other Related Resources
Right Question Institute
https://rightquestion.org/resources/make-just-one-change/
 
The Brainwaves Anthology: Dan Rothstain- Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOGbA9LocAk
 
The Brainwaves Anthology: Luz Santana- The Right Question Institute
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NP24l3jCwo
 
TEDxSomerville- Dan Rothstein: Did Socrates Get it Wrong?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JdczdsYBNA
 
Harvard EdCast- Make Just One Change
https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/11/11/harvard-edcast-make-just-one-change
 
Psychological Concepts and Figures
Howard Gardner
Carl Jung
Robert Sternberg
 
Creativity
Convergent thinking
Divergent thinking
Implicit memory
Metacognition

Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning
Author: Pooja K. Agarwal and Patrice M. Bain
ISBN-13: 978-1119521846
ISBN-10: 111952184X
 
APA Style Citation
Agarwal, P. & P. Bain. (2019). Powerful teaching: Unleash the science of learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Powerful-Teaching-Unleash-Science-Learning/dp/111952184X
​

​Book Description
During this challenging time across the globe many teachers are asking themselves reflective questions in the midst of distance learning, such as “Are my students learning?” and “Are my teaching strategies effective and backed by research?” While these questions are a common practice, they are even more evident during times like these. Check out the Open Class with This Tomorrow Activity for an idea of using metacognition with your students. The authors of Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning guide you through effective classroom practices based on the cognitive science of learning.
 
Empirical research supports the use of four powerful teaching strategies: retrieval practice, spaced practice, interleaving, and feedback-driven metacognition. Use of these four strategies in the classroom boost engagement, increase higher-level thinking, and result in student learning. Each of the tools are quick, easy, and free to implement in your classroom. Authors Pooja Agarwal and Patrice Bain provide great examples and model the power tools throughout the book. For example, Power Up boxes are scattered throughout the text and encourage the reader to stop and apply what they are learning. You can use your own learning to help increase student learning.
 
The first powerful teaching strategy is retrieval practice where students pull information out of their memory. When we think of learning we often think of getting information IN, but perhaps we need to start thinking of getting it back OUT. Consider what type of retrieval practices do you use in your classroom besides formative and summative assessments? The authors use the analogy of a filing cabinet to compare these three terms. Retrieval practice is like organizing your files for the next time you need them, while formative assessment is like taking a quick look at what is inside the files, and summative assessment is like taking an inventory of the entire file drawer. Retrieval practice should really be used as a learning strategy as opposed to an assessment strategy, and it should be kept at no or low-stakes. Some retrieval practice strategies for the classroom include: brain dumps, two things learned, retrieval-taking, retrieval guides, and mini-quizzes. Authors Agarwal and Bain explain each strategy and how they implemented them in their classroom. They also reviewed research-based tips that support retrieval practice. Remember the cognitive science of learning supports each of these power tools.
 
The second powerful teaching strategy is spaced practice, referring to spreading out practice as opposed to crammed learning. Students need to be exposed to material and then refreshed on a regular basis. The authors suggest several strategies including pre-tests, blasts from the past, and big basket quizzes. A blast from the past can simply be listing a concept from last week and students then turn and talk about it. The key to learning is to allow a little time for forgetting to occur, but not too much. Students will often feel uncomfortable when they cannot quickly recall information. It is important to help them embrace this feeling and learn from it.
 
The third powerful teaching strategy is interleaving. This is mixing up closely related topics where students must differentiate material. It is not about presenting material in different ways or mixing up chapters. Instead it is about having students discriminate items that are very close to one another or connecting current content back to previously learned content in order to see the connections between them. For example, in psychology class having students compare the types of amnesia versus the types of interference. All the terms are close to one another and takes thoughtful consideration to differentiate.
 
The final powerful teaching strategy is feedback, which allows students to know what they know versus what they do not know. As students increase their metacognition they become more familiar with their learning and build their confidence. Students should make judgments of learning where they predict their future memory and they should make confidence judgments where they report their confidence in past learning. When they make these types of judgments, they should be aware of overconfidence and the illusion of fluency and illusion of confidence. Just because they are confident in their learning does not mean that it was accurate. We all know someone who studied for hours but then did poorly on an assessment. Agarwal and Bain review the research-based recommendations for feedback and offer several strategies including: retrieval cards, metacognition sheets, breathe and retrieve, and metacognition line-up. The metacognition sheet strategy is offered in our classroom activity to open your class with tomorrow.
 
These four main power tools should be used often and can be combined. If you are already providing low-stake quizzes, why not add elaborative feedback? If you are already spacing material, why not add interleaving of similar concepts? A specific example that can use multiple power tools is the power ticket where students provide three facts for topics covered in class across varying times. Using a power ticket for material from last week and the past unit can really enhance student learning. Most of these ideas sound wonderful, but as a teacher you may be thinking of implementation. Questions that come to mind include: how much time do they take, how much extra grading, how much do they cost, will I still be able to cover all of my material, what if the tools don’t help my students, can I use the tools with my diverse learners, and where do I start? The authors emphasize how all of the tools are quick, easy, and free to implement in your classroom. The tools will work and you just have to start with using one; it is better than using none.
 
Powerful teaching helps your students find success but these tools can also help reduce anxiety and strengthen community. Often in classrooms retrieval is infrequent, connected to high-stakes, and results in only a correct or incorrect answer. By providing an environment with regular retrieval practice with no or low-stakes, students begin to embrace desirable difficulties and take more chances on their learning. As you introduce the power tools you want to spark a conversation about learning, model the tools, and help students understand why they work. Students should be using the tools both inside and outside of the classroom. The flash forward strategy is also offered in our classroom activity to open your class with tomorrow. Before you close this academic year, use this quick but powerful strategy to learn from your students and inspire you for next year.
 
Now that your powerful teaching toolbox is filling up, what about everyone else? Authors Agarwal and Bain provide guidance for sharing these tools and building toolboxes with parents, students, and colleagues. Each step of the way they provide examples and research-based strategies. If you are ready to explore your own learning and teaching, check out Powerful Teaching:  Unleash the Science of Learning. During these challenging times of distance learning, continue to reflect on what works. Check out the Open Class with This Tomorrow Activity for an idea of using metacognition with your students.
 
 
Other Related Resources
Book website
https://www.powerfulteaching.org/
 
Author website- Pooja Agarwal
https://www.poojaagarwal.com/powerfulteaching
 
Author website- Patrice Bain
https://www.patricebain.com/
 
Psychological Concepts and Figures
Anxiety
Brain dumps
Cognition
Cognitive science
Concept mapping
Correlations
Desirable difficulty
Elaborative feedback
Encoding
Errorless learning
Feedback
Free-recall
Higher-order thinking
Hypercorrection effect
Illusion of fluency
Interleaving
Meta-analysis
Metacognition
Mnemonics
Overconfidence
Research
Retrieval
Retrieval practice
Savings
Serial position effect
Social-emotional learning
Spaced practice
Storage
Surveys
Testing effect
Transfer (Near or Far)
 

​Author:  Carmine Gallo
ISBN: 978-1-250-04112-8

APA Style Citation
Gallo, Carmine (2014). Talk Like TED:  The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds.  New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Buy This Book
​​www.amazon.com/Talk-Like-TED-Public-Speaking-Secrets/dp/1250041120

Book Description
The TED Conference, which stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, has been around since 1984 but did not become well known until they began posting videos of their trademark 19-minute presentations online for free.  Author Carmine Gallo is a communications expert and the author of the bestselling book, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs.  Gallo examined over 500 TED presentations and added insights from research on persuasion and communication to generate a list of the critical aspects of highly engaging presentations. Talk Like TED offers nine key public-speaking tips utilized in some of the most well-known presentations.  The tips for giving great talks are organized into three broad categories:  Emotional (they touch the heart), Novel (they teach something new), and Memorable (they present ideas in a unique manner).  As teachers, we frequently deliver content to students in a presentation form, and this book can provide a variety of tools to use to increase student engagement and learning.  Each chapter describes a method used in the most successful TED talks including specific examples and insight from the speakers. One of the best aspects of this book was stopping periodically to watch the amazing TED talks discussed in the book!
 
EMOTIONAL
The first third of the book is devoted to the three tips in the category related to emotional factors that “touch the heart.”  In chapter one, “Unleash the Master Within,” the author discusses the importance of choosing topics to discuss in which you have personal passion and interest.  According to the author, “the first step to inspiring others is to make sure you are inspired yourself.”  An excellent example of a TED talk that exemplifies passion was given by University of Waterloo Economics professor Larry Smith titled, “Why You Will Fail to Have a Great Career.”  Smith discusses that although college students are told to pursue their passion most will not because “You’re afraid to pursue your passion.  You’re afraid to look ridiculous.  You’re afraid to try.  You’re afraid you may fail.”
https://www.ted.com/talks/larry_smith_why_you_will_fail_to_have_a_great_career
 
Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor gave one of the most watched TED talks of all time (about 20 million views).  The talk illustrates how having a strong emotional connection with the material leads to increased audience engagement.  Bolte Taylor’s talk is compelling because it involves a personal connection and exceptional storytelling.  TEDster Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor offers advice for teachers and other presenters, and that is to tell a story and demonstrate your passion for the topic. According to Bolte Taylor, “When I was at Harvard, I was the one winning the awards.  I wasn't winning the awards because my science was better than anyone else’s.  I was winning because I could tell a story that was interesting and fascinating and it was mine, down to the detail.”
http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight 
 
 
Chapter two discusses how to “Master the Art of Storytelling” by illustrating how effective speakers utilize narratives to make an emotional connection with the audience.  For example, TED speaker Brene Brown famously begins her topic by defending qualitative research she conducts with the statement that “Stories are data with a soul.”  Effective storytelling engages each listener individually and allows them to become emotionally attached and to the ideas being presented.  Some of the most effective TED storytellers are discussed in this chapter including Brian Stevenson’s talk, “We Need to Talk About an Injustice” which led to the longest standing ovation in TED history (see earlier Books for Psychology Class post on his book Just Mercy).  The 1,000 attendees at Stevenson’s talk collectively donated $1 million dollars to his nonprofit, the Equal Justice Institute.  Stevenson raised $55,000 for every minute he spoke that day.  This TED talk was given without the aid of a PowerPoint, visuals, or props of any kind – a testament to the power of story. 
https://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_stevenson_we_need_to_talk_about_an_injustice
 
Another tip for an effective persuasive presentation according to the author, is to utilize Aristotle’s three components of effective persuasion ethos, logos, and pathos in the most effective ratio. Ethos refers to the credibility and credentials of the speaker, logos is the use of logic and data to make effective arguments, and pathos is the ability to appeal to the emotions of the audience.  When the author of the book analyzed the content of Brian Stevenson’s TED talk, he found it was 10 percent ethos, 25 percent logos, and 65 percent pathos or emotional appeal. Despite being 65 percent of pathos Stevenson’s talk has been rated as one of the most persuasive of all time. One of the ways the book recommends inserting pathos or emotional appeal is by including extreme moments. Dan Ariely, a psychologist and behavioral economist at Duke, introduces his talk on how research shows that people are predictably irrational with a dramatic personal story of his recovery from an injury that left him burned over 70 percent of his body.  Ariely’s talk is an excellent addition to the research unit for illustrating the need to test beliefs that are held intuitively through careful research methods. 
https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_on_our_buggy_moral_code/transcript?language=en#t-102037
 
In chapter three, the author describes how effective TED presenters can use body language and verbal delivery to engage with the audience in a manner that feels authentic and conversational instead of an impersonal lecture to a large group.  The four elements of verbal delivery addressed in this section are rate, volume, pitch, and the effective use of pauses for emphasis.  One of the examples of effective nonverbal communications is a 2012 TED talk by a former Army general and U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell on the importance of providing children with structure early in life.  His speech is broken down to illustrate how particular gestures corresponded with the words he used during his speech. 
 
Another amazing TED talk that powerfully uses gestures to strengthen an argument was given by Ernesto Sirolli titled, “Want to help someone?  Shut up and listen!” is also broken down to highlight the expert use of gestures.  Sirolli’s talk discusses how his failure to listen led to failure for his NGO project designed to help increase food production in rural Zambia.  The project involved teaching people living in southern Zambia to grow Italian tomatoes and other vegetables.  Because the local population was uninterested, the NGO paid them to grow the vegetables.  Sirolli and his team were surprised that agriculture was not being used in this fertile region with excellent weather and soil.  According to Sirolli, instead of asking the people living there why they did not grow crops, they said, "Thank God we're here." Just in the nick of time to save the Zambian people from starvation." The result was that everything grew extremely well and we were telling the Zambians, "Look how easy agriculture is." When the tomatoes were nice and ripe and red, overnight, some 200 hippos came out from the river, and they ate everything. It was then that Sirolli asked the Zambians, “My God, the hippos!" and the Zambians said, "Yes, that's why we have no agriculture here." When Sirolli asked, “Why didn't you tell us?" the Zambians replied, "You never asked."
https://www.ted.com/talks/ernesto_sirolli_want_to_help_someone_shut_up_and_listen
 
NOVEL
The second section of the book explains three aspects that contribute to an effective presentation because it is new and unique.  Kevin Allocca, who studies YouTube trends, stated this perfectly when he pointed out that in an era when two days’ worth of video is uploaded every two minutes, it is only the truly unique and original ideas that capture the attention of the online audience. 
 
The topic of chapter four, “Teach Me Something New,” describes how the best TED talks find a way to introduce new ideas or perspectives.  The author suggests that the titles of some of the most frequently viewed TED talks promise to teach something new such as “Schools Kill Creativity” (Sir Ken Robinson), “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” (Simon Sinek), “The Surprising Science of Happiness” (Dan Gilbert), “The Power of Introverts” (Susan Cain), “8 Secrets of Success” (Richard St. John), and “How to Live Before You Die” (Steve Jobs).  Martha Burns, a professor at Northwestern, teaches how to use neuroscience to be a better educator and highlights the biology behind the “buzz” we experience when learning something in her powerful TEDx talk.  One of the best examples of teaching something novel is Hans Rosling's talk that makes statistics and correlations exciting and meaningful.  Rosling, an expert on global health, animates correlational data regarding health and wealth in a powerful demonstration.  You can view his entire talk at ted.com or view the abbreviated version titled:  200 countries, 200 years, 4minutes.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo
 
Novel presentations, according to chapter five, “Deliver Jaw-Dropping Moments,” in which presenters capture the attention and imagination of their audiences by using dramatic demonstrations or surprises.  Some of the most dramatic moments or “hooks” at TED talks have included Bill Gates releasing mosquitos and Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor who opens her talk by holding a human brain that is still attached to the spinal cord.  “Wow” moments can also come from a single shocking statistic.

• “This country is very different today than it was 40 years ago. In 1972 there were 300,000 people in jails and prisons. Today there are 2.3 million.  The United States now has the highest rate of incarceration in the world.”

Bryan Stevenson
 

• “Why are we ignoring the oceans?  If you compare NASA’s annual budget to explore the heavens, that one-year budget would fund NOAA’s budget to explore the world's oceans for 1,600 years.” 

Robert Ballard
 

• “One in a hundred regular people is a psychopath.  So there are 1,500 people in this room. Fifteen of you are psychopaths.”

Jon Ronson
 
Successful TED talks also hook new viewers by creating memorable headlines, which turn into sound bites that are often spread across social media.  TED even has a Twitter handle devoted to the catchy, memorable quotes that are likely to generate public attention (@TEDQuote). 
 

• “There’s zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.”

Susan Cain
 

• “Don’t fake it till you make it.  Fake it till you become it.”

Amy Cuddy
 

• “Numbers are the musical notes with which the symphony of the universe is written.”

Adam Spencer
 
Chapter six highlights how the ability to “Lighten Up” by using appropriate and genuine humor can increase audience engagement.  The book provides numerous tips for adding humor to presentations, including quotes, short video clips, and anecdotes.
 
MEMORABLE
The final third of the book is dedicated to various ways to make your ideas and your presentation memorable.  Chapter seven, “Stick to the 18-Minute Rule,” explains why all TED talks are limited to 18 minutes.  This key rule was established because it allows enough time for thoughtful analysis, yet short it is enough to maintain audience engagement.  Research shows that information is remembered better if it is organized into related chunks, this has led TED to recommend that presentations be centered around three main areas or points that support one large overarching idea.  This concept can be applied to classroom presentations as well by limiting direct instruction to shorter chunks broken up with time for reflection and formative practice.  The 18-minute rule forces researchers to create a focused message that maintains attention levels, and that does not create what researchers call “cognitive backlog” or the problem in which too much information prevents the successful transfer of ideas.  There are also numerous other TED rules of three such as the Three A’s of Awesome:  Attitude, Awareness, and Authenticity which were shared by award-winning blogger and author of the Book of Awesome, Neil Pasricha in a TEDx talk.  https://www.ted.com/talks/neil_pasricha_the_3_a_s_of_awesome 
Kevin Allocca, a YouTube trends manager studies why some videos go viral, and others do not.  According to Allocca, 48 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, yet only a few will have millions of views.  In Allocca’s TED talk, he explains the three factors that contribute to the success of a video:  tastemakers, communities of participation, and unexpectedness.  Of course, there is also the three-minute TED talk titled “TED in 3 Minutes,” which has been given by individuals such as Arianna Huffington and New York Times tech columnist David Pogue.  The original three-minute talk was given by Terry Moore who showed the audience a better way to tie their shoes, which has been viewed more than 1.5 million times.  The rule of three suggests

1. Creating a Twitter-friendly headline
2. Support the headline with three key messages
3. Reinforce the three messages with stories, statistics, and examples

 
Chapter eight describes how effective speakers can “Paint a Mental Picture with Multisensory Experiences” and engage as many of the senses of audience members as possible.   For example, the best TED talks use memorable images, not excessive text on slides.  One of the major tips is for creating better more effective PowerPoint presentations by avoiding too much text and instead relying more on memorable images and other visuals.  One of the worst ways to present is PowerPoint karaoke in which the speaker reads text aloud off of the screen. The chapter includes several examples of successful TED talks that show the words being used by the presenter alongside a description of the images being displayed to audience members.  A powerful example of how words are delivered alongside dramatic images is Lisa Kristine’s TED talk about the hardships of indigenous peoples and the reality of the 27 million individuals living in modern-day slavery. https://www.ted.com/talks/lisa_kristine_glimpses_of_modern_day_slavery
 
The final tip for making your presentation memorable, “Stay in Your Lane,” is outlined in chapter nine. Staying in your lane means that your presentations need to be authentic and honest and speak from the heart.  One of the tips offered for “staying in your lane” is to practice by giving your presentation to a friend or family member first because when you have a close relationship with someone, you are more likely to show who you are. 
 
Talk Like TED is an excellent guide full of practical ideas for making your presentations, activities, and demos more engaging and effective.  The book is also an opportunity to learn about some amazing TED talks you may not have heard of before.  TED talks can be shown in class, assigned as homework to facilitate class discussions or offered as opportunities for students who want to expand their understanding of a particular area of psychology.  Another interesting way to use TED talks is to execute the demos or activities presented by a particular TED talk in class, and then after hooking students on the content, let your students know how to access the entire TED talk. Because many TED presenters are also authors, TED talks can be used to stimulate interest for students to read books related to their favorite TED talks or pursue research projects in areas related to what they watched. 
 
Other Related Resources
 
Author’s Website
Carmine Gallo’s website offers articles, videos, and links to other books.
http://gallocommunications.com/books/talk-like-ted-2/
 
The Top 20 TED Talks of All Time
http://www.ted.com/playlists/171/the_most_popular_talks_of_all?gclid=CjwKEAjwtNbABRCsqO7J0_uJxWYSJAAiVo5LuME8Z7o2-Ki6OahJAA2Liq3mJcpOAdNcrtYR4zRz0RoCKgPw_wcB
 
How to Sound Smart in Your TED Talk
Comedian Will Stephen’s take on how to give a TED talk and impress your audience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S0FDjFBj8o
 
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Dan Ariely
Aristotle
Paul Bloom
Jill Bolte-Taylor
Lera Boroditsky
Susan Cain
James Flynn
Daniel Gilbert
Malcolm Gladwell
Sydney Jensen
George Miller
Daniel Pink
Hans Rosling
 
10,000 Hour Rule
Altruism
Amygdala
Analogies
Dopamine
Dual-Coding Theory
Flashbulb Memory
Flynn Effect
Genius
Hippocampus
Imagery
Introversion
Linguistic Determinism
Linguistic Relativity
Magic Number 7 Plus or Minus 2
Multitasking
Neuroplasticity
Nonverbal Communication
Persuasion
Positive Emotion
Self-Esteem
Statistics 

​The Culturally Inclusive Educator:  Preparing for a Multicultural World
Author:  Dena R. Samuels
ISBN: 13: 9780807755921
 
APA Style Citation
Samuels, D. R. (2014). The culturally inclusive educator: preparing for a multicultural world. New York: Teachers College Press.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Culturally-Inclusive-Educator-Preparing-Multicultural/dp/0807755923
 

​Book Description
 
In The Culturally Inclusive Educator, Dena Samuels addresses how educators can create classrooms that welcome all students regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status or any other characteristic that may make some students feel marginalized in a classroom setting.  Samuels acknowledges that most educators want to create a welcoming and caring environment for all of their students but can unknowingly create an exclusionary classroom that favors some students over others.  This occurs when an environment caters to the dominant group.  There is currently a mismatch between teacher`s belief in their ability to create an inclusive classroom and their ability to relay that message to the students in their care.  
 
American classrooms are becoming increasingly more diverse, and by 2050 Caucasians will be a minority in the United States.  Our world is becoming more diverse and lines between genders, races and identity are no longer defined by the binary standards that have historically been used.  The challenges that instructors face are multi-faceted because the make-up of faculties often does not match that of the student population. Currently, 90% of all public-school teachers are white, and 40% of schools do not employ a single teacher of color (National Collaborative on Diversity in the Teaching Force, 2004).  Not only does the faculty often come from different backgrounds than many of their students, but students’ peers are often not welcoming of diverse populations which can create a school environment which seems to reject those it is intended to help educate.
 
Nearly 100% of students (97%) report regularly hearing homophobic comments from peers and a 53% report hearing such comments from faculty. Clearly, these types of statements regardless of the group that is targeted can have long-lasting and detrimental effects of the success on the student who is targeted or who hears such comments. Some instructors feel that it is not their place to intervene when a student in class makes an inappropriate remark, but Samuels argues that this lack of action indicates to the students that the comment is acceptable and that the teacher will not defend those who may be hurt by the comment. The common reaction from students who were not defended by the instructor is to retreat from participation and vocalization in the classroom.
 
Even when comments are not intended to be hurtful, they can emphasize the students perceived differences.  These comments or microaggressions such as asking a person of color, “Where are you from?” assuming that they or their family cannot be from the United States can lead students feeling marginalized.  These types of interactions increase the likelihood of stereotype threat impacting academic performance, increases the risk for drop out and even potential self-harm as the individual devalues their own self-worth in the wake of repeated rejection from the larger culture.
 
Individuals from previously marginalized groups (i.e., LGBTQ individuals or veterans suffering from PTSD) today can often be more open about their identities, instructors must continually recognize that the classroom is in constant change.  In order to allow all students, the opportunity to be successful, instructors must be considerate about the words they use and the ways in which they organize their classes.  If, for example there is one student of color in a teacher`s class, this person should not become the sole representative for all issues related to their race.  Instructors must be cognizant of the language they use and must be willing to intervene and correct students who may use language that is demining or hurtful to others even if it is unintentional.
 
Samuels provides a number of helpful tips to instructors but acknowledges that becoming more culturally inclusive will not happen overnight and necessitates continual effort and the willingness to learn from one`s mistakes.  Samuels suggests that instructors begin by exploring their own background in an effort to identify their own bias and internalized feelings about certain groups. Because all of us have a gender, race, sexual identity, all of us will have opinions about others whether they have been adopted from popular culture or developed through our own experiences. Samuels recounts many instructors who claim to be “color blind.”  In addition to the impossibility of such as statement, she advocates in favor of seeing and acknowledging color (gender, sexual orientation, etc.) because each of these are components that make up a part of the identity of the students in a classroom and should be acknowledged as a part of who that individual is but clearly people are complex this sole feature should not be their only defining characteristic.  
 
Once the instructor has identified and acknowledged their own biases (this can be done in part by using the Harvard Implicit Association Test; IAT), they can begin the work of inclusivity by challenging these biases. Samuels recounts an interaction with a friend who was going through gender reassignment surgery.  Samuels wanted to be supportive but accidentally referred to the friend by their former gender identity.  Instead of simply ignoring the mistake, she apologized, and her friend was quite understanding.  Without this acknowledgement, her friend may have believed that she did not support the gender change and refused to use the correct pronoun.  In another conversation with a friend of a different race, she describes her friend saying, “I want you to ignore my race, I want you to acknowledge my race, but most of all I want you to be a trustworthy and reliable friend.” 
 
Samuels argues that the acceptance of all students in a classroom is a component of each student`s identity.  By issuing a large portion of one`s grade based on participation immediately provides an advantage to the extroverts in the classroom.  Samuels indicates that teachers need to be more reflective of their practices in and outside of the classroom.  Assigning students, a homework assignment that necessitates an Internet connection at home may exclude those from low-socioeconomic backgrounds who may not have a computer or the ability to pay a monthly fee, some students may not even have a home.  
 
Physical space can also inadvertently cause students to feel like outcasts.  African American students have been found to more actively participate in groups when seas are arranged in tables rather than rows.  Transgender students often do not have a designated place in which they can use the restroom, and school cafeterias may cater their offerings to a dominant group.  While none of these practices intentionally leave out a group of individuals, teachers and administrators need to think deeply about how to create inclusive spaces and the necessity to be open for feedback and the willingness to make necessary changes. 
 
Samuels also touches upon faculty training programs intended to increase faculty awareness of culturally diverse issues.  In many cases, faculty report feeling that they have a culturally inclusive classroom until upon learning more, they realize that they are not fully prepared to facilitate an inclusive classroom.  This may indicate that after training, people actually report feeling less prepared which Samuels counts as a victory, as these faculty members realize the necessity of learning in an effort to create a more inclusive classroom.  Samuels acknowledges that there will be mistakes and setbacks, but rather than count these as failures, we should embrace the mistakes and learn from them so that we make sure that as faculty members all students have an environment where they feel supported and in which they have the best possibility to thrive regardless of their personal characteristics and differences.  She uses the words of Albert Bandura who stated that “Intention is a precursor to action.”  By becoming more cognizant of the biases we may hold, we can become active advocates to create transformative change in classrooms across the country.
 
Other Related Resources
 
Teaching Tolerance:  Speaking Up Without Tearing Down
https://www.kickboardforschools.com/blog/post/5-ways-to-promote-equity-diversity-in-the-classroom
 
5 Ways to promote Equity and Diversity in the Classroom
https://www.kickboardforschools.com/blog/post/5-ways-to-promote-equity-diversity-in-the-classroom
 
Equity Maps:  An app to promote equal class participation and track student responses
https://equitymaps.com
 
Illinois State:  Understanding Microaggressions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPRA4g-3yEk
 
Microaggressions photo project student Kiyun Kim
https://nortonism.tumblr.com/
 
 
Microaggressions in Everyday life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJL2P0JsAS4
 
If Microaggressions happened to White people
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPRA4g-3yEk
 
Love has no Labels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnDgZuGIhHs
 
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Elliott Aronson
Albert Bandura 
Jane Elliott
Claude Steele
Lev Vygotsky
 
Confirmation bias
Emotional intelligence
Explicit bias
Harvard Implicit Associations Test (IAT)
Implicit bias
Microaggressions
Mindfulness
Self-awareness
Self-efficacy
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Social cognitive theory
Social identity
Prejudice
Stereotypes
Stereotype threat
 

Beat Boredom: Engaging Tuned-Out Teenagers
Author:  Martha Sevetson-Rush
ISBN-13: 978-1625311498
ISBN-10: 1625311494
 
APA Style Citation
Rush-Sevetson, M., & Palmer, E. (2018). Beat boredom: Engaging tuned-out teenagers. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.stenhouse.com/content/beat-boredom
​

Book Description
 
Beat Boredom is a guide from a veteran teacher that provides detailed and specific ideas for helping students stay engaged and master difficult material. Martha Sevetson-Rush is a master teacher who was a journalist before spending twenty-five plus years in the classroom teaching journalism, language arts, United States history, economics, personal finance, government, and psychology.  Currently, she teaches AP Psychology as well as AP Microeconomics and AP Macroeconomics.  She has been the recipient of the John Morton Excellence in the Teaching of Economics award in 2014, and she has been recognized in Minnesota as Journalism Educator of the Year (2014), TIES Exceptional Technology Educator (2014), JA Capstone Teacher of the Year (2012) and Economic Educator of Excellence (2012).  Martha delivers workshops for teachers for the College Board as a consultant for AP Economics and the Council on Economic Education as well as through her educational consulting firm, NeverBore LLC.
 
Sevetson-Rush articulates the causes of disengagement and boredom and provides concrete solutions for use by instructors across a variety of disciplines.  Research suggests that boredom is a real problem and that high school juniors report being bored in class 58% of the time and boredom has been linked to a variety of negative outcomes including truancy, increased dropout rates, and lower achievement, and drug use and delinquency.  Sevetson-Rush also cites research that  indicates there are four main causes of student boredom (ranging from mild, to unpleasant, or in some cases actually painful) which are the belief that the work they are doing lacks meaning, activities are repetitive, students feel confined in their environment, or students feel that they have little control over what happens in the classroom.  Some high school students spend most of their day sitting in assigned seats, passively listening to teachers while taking notes, or working quietly on practice problems.  Although some amount of repetition and direct instruction is necessary for difficult concepts, Beat Boredom offers a variety of methods of what she refers to as highly engaging, motivating instruction designed to reach all types of students, but especially those who are unmotivated and easily discouraged.  Rush-Sevenston asks, “Do we want to treat high school as an endurance test, something to be suffered through?  Or do we want high school to be an opportunity for genuine learning and growth?  Do we like lecturing to a zoned-out audience and blaming them when they don’t remember?  Are we satisfied with a system that works for only some of our students, the ones who are already motivated?”
 
The author acknowledges that utilizing the active learning methods presented in the book is not a guarantee of success and that there are potential concerns to look out for when implementing active learning strategies.  The five potential concerns when using actice learning strategies are: (1) While engagement is required, it is not the only piece that is needed for successful learning.  She does not suggest that teaching is merely entertainment, “anyone could get students to pay attention by juggling, handing out money, running a karaoke session, or letting students gripe about unfair school policies,” but what is needed is engagement with a purpose. (2) Although she discusses ways to use technology in active learning, she does not suggest that technology alone is the answer to beating boredom.  (3) Using active learning does not necessitate the loss of instruction in content.  Choosing to use highly engaging methods such as problem-based learning, simulations, and discussions does not mean that traditional content is not taught. (4) Avoid thinking in dichotomies in which you must teach exclusively by active learning or through direct instruction and whole class discussion.  (5) The use of active learning methods requires practice and training, and the best lessons are perfected over time often through continual reflection on one’s practice and incorporating input from fellow teachers and students.  
 
The conversational tone of the book speaks directly to teachers through the use of classroom examples of student reactions to lessons that are easy to relate to regardless of the content or area where you teach.  The book consists of six main chapters each outlining a specific active learning strategy complete with examples across a range of content areas including psychology, government, and economics.  The active learning strategies covered involve storytelling (giving students someone or something to care about), discussion and debate (trust students to drive meaningful conversation), problem-based learning (let students struggle with real and unsolved problems, simulation (immerse students in thoughtful role plays), competition (give students a chance to prove themselves), and authentic tasks (encourage work that matters outside of school).  Within each chapter, the author defines each strategy, articulates the benefits of the method, provides instructions on how to implement the strategy along with examples, addresses challenges related to the strategy, and ends with specific tips for teachers.  The teacher tips include ideas for getting started, tips for building on your current use of this particular active learning strategie, and ways to assess the effectiveness of the method for your students.
 
Beat Boredom: Engaging Tuned-Out Teenagers is full of amazing ideas and specific tips for using active learning methods in a variety of types of classes that both increase student engagement and promote deeper learning. 
 
Other Related Resources
 
Beat Boredom Study Guide
A free study guide to accompany the book is available as a downloadable PDF on the website of the publisher.  The publisher also offers a variety of other books related to teaching and learning and organizes professional development sessions, mentoring, and other services with the authors including Martha Sevetson-Rush.  Check out her recent post about an app called TeachFX which uses AI to visualize for teachers what portions of class are composed of teacher talk v. student talk. 
https://www.stenhouse.com/content/beat-boredom
 
Author Website and Blog
Visit the website and subscribe to author Martha Sevetson-Rush’s blog for engaging high interest discussions of current educational issues and tips for teaching. Rush’s website includes several free resources.
https://martharush.org/
 
https://neverbore.org/
 
The Story of Psychology – Reference Book
Morton Hunt’s The Story of Psychology provides interesting and detailed biographical backstories on the most influential thinkers related to the scientific field of psychology, as well as excellent summaries of their key theories and ideas. This book can be used to build engagement through the active learning strategy of storytelling for many areas of the psychology curriculum.
Hunt, M. M. (2007). The story of psychology. New York: Anchor Books.
 
Make it Stick:  The Science of Successful Learning (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel)
This powerful book about learning is an excellent resource referenced by Sevetson in Beat Boredom and the website for the book has additional useful materials for classroom use.
https://www.retrievalpractice.org/make-it-stick
 
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Phineas Gage
Henry Molaison (Patient H.M.)
Daniel Pink
Achievement gap
Active learning strategies
Backward design process
Classroom management
Collaborative learning
Creativity
Debriefing
Decision-making problems
Divergent thinking
Hippocampus
Intrinsic motivation
Problem-Based Learning (PBL)
 
 

Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools
Author:  Jonathan Kozol
ISBN:  978-0-7704-3568-4
 
APA Style Citation
Kozol, J (1991).  Savage Inequalities: Children in America`s Schools.  Random House: New York, New York.
 
Buy This Book
Savage Inequalities: Children in America`s Schools
https://www.amazon.com/Savage-Inequalities-Children-Americas-Schools/dp/0770435688

​Book Description
Jonathon Kozol lays bare the many inequities in the American Public-School System.  Kozol attempts to convey to the reader the dramatic dichotomies which exist even in public schools that are only miles apart.  The belief that all American`s have the opportunity to a strong educational foundation is easily dispelled by Kozol`s behind the scenes look at schools in wealthy versus poor neighborhoods.  An individual`s opportunity to receive a top-quality education is in large part determined by the net worth of their parents and the neighborhood in which the child was born.  This can either create a life full of opportunities for the upper-class or doom the underprivileged child to a cycle of poverty.  Kozol examines the differences in the physical space of a school building, teacher ability and retention, annual spending per child, academic programs offered to students including gifted and special education programs, extra-curricular programs, and class sizes. 
 
Kozol visits schools across the country and speaks with students, teachers, and administrators in each of the buildings he visits.  He examines only public schools which are supported by a combination of local property taxes and state funding.  To provide a broad range of geographic locations, Kozol visits schools in Illinois, Washington D.C. New York, New Jersey, and Texas.  Kozol cites the 1954 Brown versus Board of Education Supreme Court decision which many cite as the landmark decision that made equal education available to all American school children regardless of their race or class and argues that we are in much the same situation today as when the decision was made.
 
To use one comparison of schools that Kozol addresses in depth are East St. Louis, North Lawndale, and New Trier High Schools, all in the state of Illinois.  East St. Louis in 1991 (when the book was written) was 98% black, and 75% of the population relied on some form of welfare.  Chemical Plants pumped fumes into the town from companies like Pfizer and Monsanto.  These plants have left the ground riddled with lead and mercury, but mechanization of those plants led to the layoff of many workers.  East St. Louis Senior High School flooded twice that year and left sewage in the basement. In the same week, 280 teachers and 34 custodians and workers were laid off because of funding shortages.  Class size is 35 and often taught by `permanent` substitutes because the city cannot afford to pay teacher`s salaries.  The school often lacks enough chalk or toilet paper in the building, and in the bathrooms sometimes only one stall is functional and may or may not have a door.  The science labs do not function because there is no water and the lab equipment is fifty years old. When a teacher is ill, no substitute is assigned, and the students supervise themselves.  Thousands of dollars are wasted each month heating a building with drafty windows and old systems, and then the school is accused of mismanaging their funds by the state.  The superintendent of the East St. Louis school district sums this up by saying, “Gifted children are everywhere in East St. Louis, but their gifts are lost to poverty and turmoil and the damage done by knowing that they are written off by their society.”
 
In North Lawndale, Chicago a neighborhood where Martin Luther King Jr. lived for a time while fighting against housing discrimination in Chicago, the situation is no better. Overcrowded classrooms, dilapidated buildings, and exhausted staff do their best to educate students in a building without adequate space or facilities.  This, adds to the challenge of trying to educate students who frequently move in an out of a classroom and who are facing poverty, crime or addiction in their home environments makes any learning a challenge.  While parents of these children certainly want a good education for their children, the basic necessities of life (finding housing, employment) often push that priority way down the list. Kozol describes his visit here with the primary students who are excited to learn and hear stories read to them.  Unfortunately, by middle school, the children seem to understand that life has dealt them an unfair deal and the chances of changing their circumstances are slim. over half of the students at North Lawndale will not complete high school, but nearly 30% will not even complete middle school.  As they move through middle school, their attitudes have changed, and they seem resigned to a similar life, they do not believe that education will help change that.
 
Magnet schools have been sold to the public as a chance for outstanding students living in the city to have access to a world-class education.  Many of these schools have lived up to that reputation, but the cost to the overall system may not warrant these efforts.  By selecting the top students for these magnet schools, the remaining students are acutely aware of their “lower” status and not having the two or three students in school may have a deleterious impact on the neighborhood public schools.  The media often reports about the success at these Magnets schools, but often the result is even further degradation for those “left behind”.
 
There is an alternate reality in the Illinois Public school system. The one that Kozol describes is that of New Trier High School located in Wilmette, a wealthy northern suburb of Chicago not more than 20 miles from North Lawndale.  Here, students are given counseling in a 25 to 1 ratio by a counselor who will stay with the student during all four years of high school. In comparison, counselors in East St. Louis schools are staffed at 250 to 1.  The New Trier school library has over 60,000 volumes while most Chicago public schools less than 25% of that number.  Teachers at New Trier earn an average salary of 150% of what those in the city are making and have smaller class sizes, unlimited copies (and today access to technology and personal devices provided by the school) and generally a great deal of parental support.  This makes it easier to understand why staffing in the Chicago public system has become such a challenge and that often those who remain may only stay because they have no better option.  The students are New Trier have access to over thirty different sports programs and any number of extracurricular clubs in which sponsors are paid extra.  The students at North Lawndale had a choir.  New Trier students have access to Advanced Placement classes and college counselors, and with these types of supports, it is no surprise that over 90% of the graduating class will go on to a four-year college or university, versus a dropout rate of nearly 50%.
 
Kozol finds similar discrepancies in schools across the country and wonders if all children are not entitled to a free and equitable education.  State and local property taxes account for most of a school`s budget, but those in wealthy neighborhoods experience the benefits of an increased budget because of the high value of homes in the area. Those in poorer areas often paying a higher rate of tax on their property but it cannot begin to make up for the gap in value.  Supplemental state funding can make up for some of this gap, but it does not come close to closing it.  Many states have capped the amount of money they will send to a district or have tied financial support to state testing.  This causes those in underfunded schools to constantly prepare students for statewide assessments instead of focusing on curriculum or individual student needs.  Schools like New Trier can shirk the mandates of the state because they can for the most part fund themselves.  Many schools in the state will spend roughly half the amount that New Trier spends per pupil, per year.  In old buildings, without parents with the means to fundraise and stock libraries or sports programs, the socioeconomically disadvantaged are in a situation in which the cycle of poverty is likely to repeat itself.  Kozol argues that race is still a major factor in the type of education that children receive.  He used an example in New Jersey when a school was destroyed in Camden, students were bussed to another vacant school in a neighboring wealthy Caucasian suburb, but the citizens of the community specifically indicated where and when the buses could take these poor, primarily African-American children to their “new” school.
 
Savage Inequalities was written in 1991 to which some might respond that times have changed and many of his findings are no longer valid, to this one may be shocked and horrified at how little has changed in the nearly thirty years since Kozol`s publication.  It is time to consider how to provide every student in America with the best education possible and to give every child the opportunity to live up to their full potential.  Kozol proposes an equitable distribution of funds to all schools, to which wealthy parents respond that something is being taken away from their children, Kozol believes however that the availability of a top-notch education can be mutually beneficial to all.  Sadly, over sixty years after the Brown decision, socioeconomics had determined that racial diversity in schools creates a system of de facto segregation in which a whole generation of American`s are losing out on the opportunity to make a better life.  Jonathan Kozol has written a more recent version of the same topic entitled The Shame of the Nation.
 
Other Related Resources
Jonathan Kozol`s website
http://www.jonathankozol.com/books/savage-inequalities/
 
Jonathan Kozol describing his mission regarding equaling the playing field for public education in the United States (Multiple Videos)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6wCsAXmjdI
 
This American Life, National Public Radio:  3 Miles:  This podcast depicts the vast differences in two schools just miles apart (see activity)
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/550/three-miles
 
The Atlantic:  The Inequity in Public Schools
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/06/inequality-public-schools/395876/
 
The Atlantic:  Good School, Rich School, Bad School, Poor School
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/08/property-taxes-and-unequal-schools/497333/
 
National Public Radio:  Why America`s Schools have a Money Problem
https://www.npr.org/2016/04/18/474256366/why-americas-schools-have-a-money-problem
 
Ed Central:  Overview on how American Schools are funded
http://www.edcentral.org/edcyclopedia/school-finance/
 
Websites for the schools described in the review
East St. Louis District (No separate school website for the high school)
https://www.estl189.com/domain/68
North Lawndale College Prep
https://www.nlcphs.org
New Trier High School
http://www.newtrier.k12.il.us
 
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Addiction
Discrimination
Prejudice
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Stereotyping
Stereotype Threat
 

Talk Like TED:  The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds
Author:  Carmine Gallo
ISBN: 978-1-250-04112-8
 
APA Style Citation
Gallo, Carmine (2014). Talk Like TED:  The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds.  New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Book Description
The TED Conference, which stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, has been around since 1984 but did not become well known until they began posting videos of their trademark 19-minute presentations online for free.  Author Carmine Gallo is a communications expert and the author of the bestselling book, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs.  Gallo examined over 500 TED presentations and added insights from research on persuasion and communication to generate a list of the critical aspects of highly engaging presentations. Talk Like TED offers nine key public-speaking tips utilized in some of the most well-known presentations.  The tips for giving great talks are organized into three broad categories:  Emotional (they touch the heart), Novel (they teach something new), and Memorable (they present ideas in a unique manner).  As teachers, we frequently deliver content to students in a presentation form and this book can provide a variety of tools to use to increase student engagement and learning.  Each chapter describes a method used in the most successful TED talks including specific examples and insight from the speakers. One of the best aspects of this book was stopping periodically to watch the amazing TED talks discussed in the book!
 
EMOTIONAL
The first third of the book is devoted to the three tips in the category related to emotional factors that “touch the heart.”  In chapter one, “Unleash the Master Within” the author discusses the importance of choosing topics to discuss about which you have personal passion and interest.  According to the author, “the first step to inspiring others is to make sure you are inspired yourself.”  An excellent example of a TED talk that exemplifies passion was given by University of Waterloo Economics professor Larry Smith titled, “Why You Will Fail to Have a Great Career.”  Smith discusses that although college students are told to pursue their passion most will not because “You’re afraid to pursue your passion.  You’re afraid to look ridiculous.  You’re afraid to try.  You’re afraid you may fail.”
https://www.ted.com/talks/larry_smith_why_you_will_fail_to_have_a_great_career
 
One of the most watched TED talks of all time (about 20 million views) was given by neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor.  The talk illustrates how having a strong emotional connection with the material leads to increased audience engagement.  Bolte Taylor’s talk is compelling because it involves a personal connection and exceptional story telling.  TEDster Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor offers advice for teachers and other presenters, and that is to tell a story and demonstrate your passion for the topic. According to Bolte Taylor, “When I was at Harvard, I was the one winning the awards.  I wasn't winning the awards because my science was better than anyone else’s.  I was winning because I could tell a story that was interesting and fascinating and it was mine, down to the detail.”
http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight 
 
 
Chapter two discusses how to “Master the Art of Storytelling” by illustrating how effective speakers utilize narratives to make an emotional connection with the audience.  For example, TED speaker Brene Brown famously begins her topic by defending qualitative research she conducts with the statement that “Stories are data with a soul.”  Effective storytelling engages each listener individually and allows them to become emotionally attached and to the ideas being presented.  Some of the most effective TED storytellers are discussed in this chapter including Brian Stevenson’s talk, “We Need to Talk About an Injustice” which led to the longest standing ovation in TED history (see earlier Books for Psychology Class post on his book Just Mercy).  The 1,000 attendees at Stevenson’s talk collectively donated $1 million dollars to his nonprofit, the Equal Justice Institute.  Stevenson raised $55,000 for every minute he spoke that day.  This TED talk was given without the aid of a PowerPoint, visuals, or props of any kind – a testament to the power of story. 
https://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_stevenson_we_need_to_talk_about_an_injustice
 
Another tip for an effectively persuasive presentation according to the author is to utilize Aristotle’s three components of effective persuasion ethos, logos, and pathos in the most effective ratio. Ethos refers to the credibility and credentials of the speaker, logos is the use of logic and data to make effective arguments, and pathos is the ability to appeal to the emotions of the audience.  When the author of the book analyzed the content of Brian Stevenson’s TED talk, he found it was 10 percent ethos, 25 percent logos, and 65 percent pathos or emotional appeal. Despite being 65 percent of pathos Stevenson’s talk has been rated as one of the most persuasive of all time. One of the ways the book recommends inserting pathos or emotional appeal is by including extreme moments. Dan Ariely, a psychologist and behavioral economist at Duke introduces his talk on how research shows that people are predictably irrational with a dramatic personal story of his recovery from an injury that left him burned over 70 percent of his body.  Ariely’s talk is an excellent addition to the research unit for illustrating the need to test beliefs that are held intuitively through careful research methods. 
https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_on_our_buggy_moral_code/transcript?language=en#t-102037
 
In chapter three the author describes how effective TED presenters can use body language and verbal delivery to engage with the audience in a manner that feels authentic and conversational instead of an impersonal lecture to a large group.  The four elements of verbal delivery addressed in this section are rate, volume, pitch, and the effective use of pauses for emphasis.  One of the examples of the effective nonverbal communications is a 2012 TED talk by a former Army general and U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell on the importance of providing children with structure early in life.  His speech is broken down to illustrate how particular gestures corresponded with the words he used during his speech. 
 
Another amazing TED talk that powerfully uses gestures to strengthen an argument was given by Ernesto Sirolli titled, “Want to help someone?  Shut up and listen!” is also broken down to highlight the expert use of gestures.  Sirolli’s talk discusses how his failure to listen led to failure for his NGO project designed to help increase food production in rural Zambia.  The project involved teaching people living in southern Zambia to grow Italian tomatoes and other vegetables.  Because the local population was uninterested, the NGO paid them to grow the vegetables.  Sirolli and his team were surprised that agriculture was not being used in this fertile region with excellent weather and soil.  According to Sirolli, instead of asking the people living there why they did not grow crops they said, "Thank God we're here." Just in the nick of time to save the Zambian people from starvation." The result was that everything grew extremely well and we were telling the Zambians, "Look how easy agriculture is." When the tomatoes were nice and ripe and red, overnight, some 200 hippos came out from the river, and they ate everything. It was then that Sirolli asked the Zambians, “My God, the hippos!" and the Zambians said, "Yes, that's why we have no agriculture here." When Sirolli asked “Why didn't you tell us?" the Zambians replied, "You never asked."
https://www.ted.com/talks/ernesto_sirolli_want_to_help_someone_shut_up_and_listen
 
NOVEL
The second section of the book explains three aspects that contribute to an effective presentation because it is new and unique.  Kevin Allocca who studies YouTube trends stated this perfectly when he pointed out that in an era when two days’ worth of video is uploaded every two minutes it is only the truly unique and original ideas that capture the attention of the online audience. 
 
The topic of chapter four, “Teach Me Something New” describes how the best TED talks find a way to introduce new ideas or perspectives.  The author suggests that the titles of some of the most frequently viewed TED talks promise to teach something new such as “Schools Kill Creativity” (Sir Ken Robinson), “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” (Simon Sinek), “The Surprising Science of Happiness” (Dan Gilbert), “The Power of Introverts” (Susan Cain), “8 Secrets of Success” (Richard St. John), and “How to Live Before You Die” (Steve Jobs).  Martha Burns, a professor at Northwestern teaches how to use neuroscience to be a better educator and highlights the biology behind the “buzz” we experience when learning something in her powerful TEDx talk.  One of the best examples of teaching something novel is Hans Rosling talk that makes statistics and correlations exciting and meaningful.  Rosling, an expert on global health, animates correlational data regarding health and wealth in a powerful demonstration.  You can view his entire talk at ted.com or view the abbreviated version titled:  200 countries, 200 years, 4minutes.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo
 
Novel presentations according to chapter five “Deliver Jaw-Dropping Moments” in which presenters capture the attention and imagination of their audiences by using dramatic demonstrations or surprises.  Some of the most dramatic moments or “hooks” at TED talks have included Bill Gates releasing mosquitos and Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor who opens her talk by holding a human brain that is still attached to the spinal cord.  “Wow” moments can also come from a single shocking statistic.

• “This country is very different today than it was 40 years ago. In 1972 there were 300,000 people in jails and prisons. Today there are 2.3 million.  The United States now has the highest rate of incarceration in the world.”

Bryan Stevenson
 

• “Why are we ignoring the oceans?  If you compare NASA’s annual budget to explore the heavens, that one-year budget would fund NOAA’s budget to explore the world's oceans for 1,600 years.” 

Robert Ballard
 

• “One in a hundred regular people is a psychopath.  So there are 1,500 people in this room. Fifteen of you are psychopaths.”

Jon Ronson
 
Successful TED talks also hook new viewers by creating memorable headlines, which turn into sound bites that are often spread across social media.  TED even has a Twitter handle devoted to the catchy, memorable quotes that are likely to generate public attention (@TEDQuote). 
 

• “There’s zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.”

Susan Cain
 

• “Don’t fake it till you make it.  Fake it till you become it.”

Amy Cuddy
 

• “Numbers are the musical notes with which the symphony of the universe is written.”

Adam Spencer
 
Chapter six highlights how the ability to “Lighten Up” by using appropriate and genuine humor can increase audience engagement.  The book provides numerous tips for adding humor to presentations including quotes, short video clips, and anecdotes.
 
MEMORABLE
The final third of the book is dedicated to various ways to make your ideas and your presentation memorable.  Chapter seven, “Stick to the 18-Minute Rule” explains why all TED talks are limited to 18 minutes.  This key rule was established because it allows enough time for a thoughtful analysis, yet short it is enough to maintain audience engagement.  Research shows that information is remembered better if it is organized into related chunks, this has led TED to recommend that presentations be centered around three main areas or points that support one large overarching idea.  This concept can be applied to classroom presentations as well by limiting direct instruction to shorter chunks broken up with time for reflection and formative practice.  The 18-minute rule forces researchers to create a focused message that maintains attention levels, and that does not create what researchers call “cognitive backlog” or the problem in which too much information prevents the successful transfer of ideas.  There are also numerous other TED rules of three such as the Three A’s of Awesome:  Attitude, Awareness, and Authenticity which were shared by award-winning blogger and author of the Book of Awesome, Neil Pasricha in a TEDx talk. 
https://www.ted.com/talks/neil_pasricha_the_3_a_s_of_awesome 

Kevin Allocca, a YouTube trends manager studies why some videos go viral, and others do not.  According to Allocca 48 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, yet only a few will have millions of views.  In Allocca’s TED talk he explains the three factors that contribute to the success of a video:  tastemakers, communities of participation, and unexpectedness.  Of course, there is also the three-minute TED talk titled “TED in 3 Minutes” which has been given by individuals such as Arianna Huffington and New York Times tech columnist David Pogue.  The original three-minute talk was given by Terry Moore who showed the audience a better way to tie their shoes, which has been viewed more than 1.5 million times.  The rule of three suggests

1. Creating a Twitter-friendly headline
2. Support the headline with three key messages
3. Reinforce the three messages with stories, statistics, and examples

 
Chapter eight describes how effective speakers can “Paint a Mental Picture with Multisensory Experiences” and engage as many of the senses of audience members as possible.   For example, the best TED talks use memorable images not excessive text on slides.  One of the major tips is for creating better more effective power point presentations by avoiding too much text and instead relying more on memorable images and other visuals.  One of the worst ways to present is PowerPoint karaoke in which the speaker reads text aloud off of the screen. The chapter includes several examples of successful TED talks that show the words being used by the presenter alongside a description of the images being displayed to audience members.  A powerful example of how words are delivered alongside dramatic images is Lisa Kristine’s TED talk about the hardships of indigenous peoples and the reality of the 27 million individuals living in modern day slavery. https://www.ted.com/talks/lisa_kristine_glimpses_of_modern_day_slavery
 
The final tip for making your presentation memorable, “Stay in Your Lane” is outlined in chapter nine. Staying in your lane means that you presentations need to be authentic and honest and speak from the heart.  One of the tips offered for “staying in your lane” is to practice by giving your presentation to a friend or family member first because when you have a close relationship with someone you are more likely to show who you are. 
 
Talk Like TED is an excellent guide full of practical ideas for making your presentations, activities, and demos more engaging and effective.  The book is also an opportunity to learn about some amazing TED talks you may not have heard of before.  TED talks can be shown in class, assigned as homework to facilitate class discussions or offered as opportunities for students who want to expand their understanding of a particular area of psychology.  Another interesting way to use TED talks is to execute the demos or activities presented by a particular TED talk in class and then after hooking students on the content let your students know how to access the entire TED talk. Because many TED presenters are also authors, TED talks can be used to stimulate interest for students to read books related to their favorite TED talks or pursue research projects in areas related to what they watched. 
 
Other Related Resources
 
Author’s Website
Carmine Gallo’s website offers articles, videos, and links to other books.
http://gallocommunications.com/books/talk-like-ted-2/
 
The Top 20 TED Talks of All Time
http://www.ted.com/playlists/171/the_most_popular_talks_of_all?gclid=CjwKEAjwtNbABRCsqO7J0_uJxWYSJAAiVo5LuME8Z7o2-Ki6OahJAA2Liq3mJcpOAdNcrtYR4zRz0RoCKgPw_wcB
 
How to Sound Smart in Your TED Talk
Comedian Will Stephen’s take on how to give a TED talk and impress your audience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S0FDjFBj8o
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Dan Ariely
Aristotle
Jill Bolte-Taylor
Susan Cain
James Flynn
Daniel Gilbert
Malcolm Gladwell
George Miller
Daniel Pink
Hans Rosling
10,000 Hour Rule
Altruism
Amygdala
Analogies
Dopamine
Dual-Coding Theory
Flashbulb Memory
Flynn Effect
Genius
Hippocampus
Imagery
Introversion
Magic Number 7 Plus or Minus 2
Multitasking
Neuroplasticity
Nonverbal Communication
Persuasion
Positive Emotion
Self-Esteem
Statistics
 

Blog Contributor: Jessica Flitter
West Bend East High School
[email protected]
 
Great Myths of Education and Learning
Author: Jeffrey D. Holmes
ISBN: 978-1-118-70939-9 (Paperback)
 
APA Style Citation
Holmes, J. (2016). Great Myths of Education and Learning. Chichester, West Sussex:
Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Book Description
How many times have you heard something about using learning styles or being too left-brained? Sometimes components of researching findings become pervasive in the world of education even though they lack sound scientific research.  This book looks at sixteen popular myths concerning education and learning.  The content is dense and various studies are presented, addressing both sides of the myth.  A scientific claim should not be based on the finding of a single study, but rather a combination of studies all of which find fairly consistent results.  Existing studies should be combined through meta-analysis to find reliable patterns and limit potential bias. Through this sound research method, hopefully, a more complete picture is formed regarding a specific scientific claim. The summaries below provide a basic understanding of the findings presented in the book. 
 
Myth 1: Students are accurate judges of how much they know
Have you been told to empower your students and ask them how they learn best? Student empowerment is important but students, especially low-achieving students, tend to be overconfident and do not recognize what learning strategies are most effective. When material feels easy and quickly comes to mind, students falsely believe they understand the information well.  In addition, after reviewing assessments, they fall victim to hindsight bias.  Familiarity increases their confidence, leading to a false assessment of their knowledge.  Without an accurate ability to gauge performance, students are less efficient and do not study effectively.
 
Myth 2: Students learn better when teaching methods are matched with their learning styles
We have all sat through an in-service that demands we learn our students’ learning styles, but does it really matter?  A common claim supported by educators, parents, and students is that instruction which matches students’ learning preferences leads to more successful learning. To date, over 71 different learning style models have been identified, and the most common ones include the senses (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic). However, few scientifically sound studies support matching instruction to these preferences.  The studies lack reliability and appropriate assessments. Rather than using specific sensory modes to store content, most successfully learned memories are semantic in nature.  It has been found that students can use many different learning strategies when the specific content calls for it.
 
Myth 3: Lecturing is broadly inferior to other teaching methods
We are told, “Stop lecturing!” yet our students beg for it.  Should we lecture? Lectures compared to alternative teaching methods often reveal no significant difference in learning.  Many arguments center on the loss of attention span after 10-15 minutes.  However, few scientific studies support this statement.  A quick resetting of attention can easily get students back on track.  The lecture actually offers several advantages, including its efficiency for significant amounts of novel material.  On the contrary, lectures lack effectiveness when it comes to attaining applied skills or communication skills. It should be noted that classroom research is challenging due to a lack of control and experimenter bias. Also, lecturing is very difficult to define operationally.
Interestingly, instructors often negatively associate lectures with effectiveness. In contrast, students view lecturing as one of the most effective learning strategies. Studies reveal that high achieving students prefer lectures. In addition, structured lectures seem to help low-achieving students, as well as those students with high anxiety. While preferences are not the best evaluation tool, student perception does play a role in a successful classroom. Ultimately, effective teaching is partly the teaching method and the preferences in the classroom.
 
Myth 4: Using PowerPoint in the classroom improves student learning
PowerPoint has become the new overhead projector, but does it really work? Many students believe that PowerPoint leads to effective learning, but studies find no significant advantage compared to other presentations.  When students focus too much on elaborate slides, PowerPoint can actually hurt student performance.  However, students report the method as being more interesting, more organized, and more enjoyable.  They believe they take better notes and have increased confidence.  Interestingly, this increased confidence leads to a halo effect and improves students’ perception in other areas of the course as well.  There is little empirical evidence that PowerPoint affects student learning, but once again it is necessary to take student perception into account. 
 
Myth 5: Minimally guided instruction is superior to traditional direct instruction
How many times have you heard that you should be using problem-solving learning? Minimally guided instruction is founded on the constructivist learning philosophy. According to this theory, it is believed that knowledge must be based on personal experiences in the world, not gained through direct instruction.  However, there is no empirical evidence that leaving students to their own devices provides more effective learning.  Studies have found that direct instruction can be successful for students at all levels, for verbal and social skills, and increased performance on immediate and delayed tests.  Problem-solving teaching strategies utilize a very limited working memory.  When one’s ability to problem-solve is at capacity students will struggle with learning.  This is especially true for low-achieving students.  Most likely a balanced approach of direction instruction and discovery would work best. 
 
Myth 6: Rewards always undermine students’ intrinsic motivation
Has your school been consumed by a Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) plan? Various empirical findings support that rewards can increase intrinsic motivation, but with certain contingencies.  As is stated by the overjustification hypothesis, expected tangible rewards for simply engaging in an activity of high interest reduces intrinsic motivation.  While this is true, it has been found that intrinsic motivation actually increases with verbal praise.  Also, an expected tangible reward is not detrimental if it is based on the quality of the task as opposed to participation.  However, research has found that rewards for simply performing the task actually increases intrinsic motivation for low-achieving students. Lab research does not always generalize to the classroom; however, researchers agree that rewards do not always reduce intrinsic motivation.
 
Myth 7: Multitasking does not inhibit academic performance
How many of your students are addicted to their cellphone? Technology is everywhere, and young people are easily tempted by it. Some argue that young people, born since 1980, may be able to multitask more efficiently than members of past generations.  Young people believe they can successfully multitask.  Some even think it helps them focus and complete homework.  However, none of these statements are supported by research.  Switching tasks results in slower performance and increased errors. Completing homework with the TV on in the background takes longer.  It was also found that students watching other students multitask learned significantly less than those who could not see other students multitasking.  When others control the content, multitasking is even more challenging.
While multitasking, performance usually declines as the difficulty of the task increases.  However, one study found that multitasking students took longer to read, but did not have lower performance. While learning may not be affected, few high school students have the extra time that it takes to multitask.
 
Myth 8: People are either left-brained or right brained
I am sure you have heard of the vocabulary learning technique that utilizes both sides of your brain; self-made definitions invoke the left-hemisphere, while drawings activate the right hemisphere. Many educators support the claim that differences in hemispheric dominance can explain learning differences.  Early research grabbed everyone’s attention but lacked the ability to generalize to the general population. Early split-brain research utilized unique brains and usually had very limited sample sizes.  Current research with brain-imaging technology supports that both hemispheres are necessary for various functions.  Greater hemispheric lateralization has been found only in people of low-achieving ability.  Furthermore, the statements supporting a brain dichotomy are often oversimplified, and neuroscience has been incorrectly applied to the world of education and business. 
 
Myth 9: There are many independent varieties of intelligence
The number of intelligences has been debated for years.  Sir Francis Galton was the first to talk of general intelligence, but it was Charles Spearman that was able to identify it statistically through factor analysis.  The g factor is probably one of the most studied traits in the history of intelligence in psychology.  Several theorists have offered opposing models supporting specific intelligences.  Howard Gardner’s theory has caught on with educators due to its ability to identify all children as being special.  However, the theory has several pitfalls.  It utilizes eight criteria to find separate intelligences, but they are not always consistently applied.  Also, there is no specific assessment that can measure each specific intelligence.  Currently, most tests are based on self-report and still measure general intelligence.  Empirical evidence does not support the existence of many separate intelligences.   
 
Myth 10: Self-esteem improves academic performance
In order to excel you have to feel good about yourself, right? There is a small, positive correlation between self-esteem and academic performance. However, it often shrinks when other environmental factors are controlled.  Self-esteem is studied most often in the United States, an individualistic culture.  One strategy, self-evaluation educational interventions, needs to be used with caution because it can actually reduce performance. Interestingly, Americans have enjoyed increased self-esteem scores in recent decades but have witnessed a decrease in the average SAT score. Research supports that academic self-concept is a better predictor of performance than self-esteem.
 
Myth 11: Repetition is a highly effective study strategy
Tight on time before a test? Everyone has probably utilized the study strategy of rereading a text, and it can enhance learning to a degree.  The benefits of rereading are greatest the first time the content is reread and immediately tested, but little enhancement is achieved when testing is delayed after rereading content.  In addition, high-achieving students benefit the most from rereading a second time.  Most of these findings have been found in the laboratory and need to be questioned before being generalized to the classroom. 
While rereading is not that effective, there are study methods to increase performance. The most effective method is the testing effect.  Practice testing leads to better performance on similar future tests than restudying the content. The benefits of practice testing can occur using a variety of test formats, even when the final test is a different format. This finding has held up across a wide range of ages and abilities.  Two additional effective study methods include elaborative interrogation and self-explanation.  Both are effective but require more time.  Students have limited time, but will hopefully recognize the powerful ability of practice testing to increase retention.
 
Myth 12: Multiple-choice exams are inferior to other exam formats
Essay exams take time to grade and have concerns of inter-rater reliability, but can a multiple-choice test really measure all aspects of student knowledge?  Even though students are exposed to misinformation via the multiple-choice format, the testing effect is increased by providing feedback no matter if it is immediate or delayed.  Scientific studies find that both testing formats, multiple-choice and essay, assess similar abilities and students perform at similar levels on both parts of an exam. 
Many concerns with multiple-choice tests are not supported by scientific findings. It is believed that essay tests measure higher levels of thinking, but often they do not. Before we abandon multiple-choice tests, let’s make sure that the new exam format actually provides a better performance indicator. 
 
Myth 13: Students should not change answers on multiple-choice exams
Many of your students have probably heard of the first instinct fallacy; once you select an answer on a test, it is best not to change it.  Scientific studies show that usually students, especially high-achieving students, benefit from changing their answer as long as they are not just guessing.  If you re-evaluated or better understand the questions, then the odds are in your favor to make the change.
As is often the case, students’ perceptions do not match the research.  Even when trained to change their answers, they still believed that it would lead to a lower exam score.  The circumstance when changing your answer did not work is more memorable thanks to the availability heuristic.  Don’t stress your students out during the exam, but share the possible benefits of changing answers well in advance.
 
Myth 14: Coaching produces large gains in college admission test scores
As any high school student wanting to attend college knows, the SAT and ACT are a common hurdle one must first pass.  Studies suggest that coaching can increase student SAT scores.  However, there are many confounding variables. Coaching time becomes confused with coaching methods.  In addition, a certain type of student seeks academic coaching.  These concerns, as well as a lack of random assignment, call these scientific findings into question.    
 
Myth 15: Standardized tests do not predict academic performance
We have all heard that story about a young person who did poorly on the SAT or ACT but excelled in college. The problem is that story is not the norm and only shows that the correlation is not perfect.  Almost all studies support that there is a significant positive correlation between standardized tests for college admission and first-year college GPA.  Critics question the validity of the assessment due to range restriction and reliability. However, after correcting for these issues, as well as socioeconomic status, the SAT still had predictive validity.
 
Myth 16: Standardized ability tasks are biased against some minority groups
The average group differences in IQ has spurred concerns about cultural bias in testing.  If a test measures different things for people within different groups, it is biased.  However, research has not been able to find anyone, including experts that can find biased test items based on content.  In addition, the claim that tests underpredict for minority members has not been demonstrated.  Studies have actually found an overprediction for most minority groups.  The origin and meaning of intelligence is a complex issue that is heavily debated.  To date, empirical evidence does not support a testing bias against minority groups.
 
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Paul Broca
Sir Francis Galton
Howard Gardner
Jean Piaget
B. F. Skinner
Charles Spearman
Roger Sperry
L. L. Thurstone
Achievement Test
Aptitude Test
Availability Heuristic
Cognitive Psychology
Cohort Effect
Confirmation Bias
Confounding of Variables
Correlation (Positive, Modest)
Creativity
Critical Thinking
Cultural Bias
Dichotic Listening Study
Distributive Study
Divergent Thinking
EEG
Efficacy
Empirical Evidence
Experimenter Bias
Experimental Control
Expressive vs. Receptive Language
Factor Analysis
General Intelligence
Generalizability of Research
Halo Effect
Hemispheric Dominance
Hindsight Bias
Individualistic Cultural Belief
Intelligence
Inter-Rater Reliability
Intrinsic Motivation
Lateralized
Learning Styles:  Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic
Longitudinal Data
Meta-analysis
Metacognition
Motivation
Multitasking or Task Switching
Neuroscientific Research
Operational Definition
Overconfidence
Overjustification Hypothesis
“Psychological Refractory Period”
Positive Emotions- Left Hemisphere
Predictive Validity
 “Prodigy” or “Idiot Savant”
Psychometrician
Random Assignment
Repetition
Replicate
Scaffolding
Self-Efficacy
Self-Esteem
Self-Report Measure
Semantic Memory
Sensory Memory
Split-Brain Operation
Statistical Significance
Test Bias
Testing Effect
Visual Field Study
WISC
Working Memory
 
 
Other Related Resources
 
Great Myths of Psychology Series
Erber, J. T., & Szuchman, L. T. (2014). Great Myths of Aging. Chichester, West Sussex:
Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN: 978-1-118-52145-8
 
Hupp, S., & Jewell, J. (2015). Great Myths of Child Development. Chichester, West
Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN: 978-1-118-52122-9
 
Jarrett, C. (2014). Great Myths of the Brain. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.
ISBN: 978-1-118-62450-0
Johnson, M. D. (2016). Great Myths of Intimate Relationships: Dating, Sex, and
Marriage. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN: 978-1-118-52128-1
 
Lilienfeld, S. 0., Lynn, S. J., Ruscio, J., & Beyerstein, B. L. (2009). 50 Great Myths of
Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions About Human Behavior. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN : 978-1-4051-3112-4
 
Series Website www.wiley.com/go/psychmyths
 
Podcast
Britt, M. A. (2009, December 27). Episode 113: Interview with Scott Lilienfeld on the 50 great myths of popular psychology [Audio Podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.thepsychfiles.com/
 
Articles
Willis, J. (2015). The High Cost of Neuromyths in Education. Edutopia, http://www.edutopia.org/. Retrieved on July 26, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/high-costs-neuromyths-in-education-judy-willis
 
 

​Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being
Author:  Martin E.P. Seligman
ISBN:  978-1-4391-9076-0
 
APA Style Citation
Seligman, M. (2011).  Flourish: A visionary new understanding of Happiness and Well-being.  New York, Atria Paperback.

​Book Description
Flourish is a narrative reflection regarding Seligman’s chronicle of work (and the work of many others) towards improving the well-being of others.  Seligman opens Flourish by discussing his training as a therapist.  During his education and early practice as a therapist Seligman learned that in order to help those who were mentally ill or suffering from some other emotional ailment, the goal was to remove one’s suffering.  Seligman contends that there is far more to life than the lack of suffering.  He advocates for acting in a more proactive manner, which he argues could potentially prevent many ailments altogether.  Seligman also argues that treatment should work towards helping clients to thrive rather than just removing their pain.  Seligman is frustrated that much of current research and practice in psychotherapy focuses on drug therapies, which mask rather than treat the problem from which a client suffers.  Many drugs blunt the feeling of emotion, however feeling emotions is part of the human experiences and should be felt even if they are sometimes painful.  Seligman in large part has been able to do work in the field of Positive Psychology because of generous grants, which were provided from an initially anonymous source to fund the research.  It is this funding which has allowed Seligman to make efforts toward revolutionizing the field of psychology from a focus on illness to a focus on well-being.
 
Seligman makes a distinction between happiness, which he considers a mood and well-being which he considers a state of being.  We describe happiness when we are feeling cheerful or merry.  Seligman argues that this term is so overused as to become almost meaningless.  Well-being, however, is a way of thinking and behaving in order to live one’s best possible life. A focus on well-being may not lead everyone to “happiness” as there are many individual differences concerning happiness and one’s subjective experience of when they are feeling “happy.”  For example, introverts generally report lower levels of happiness than extroverts, but both can pursue and achieve well-being in relatively similar levels.  According to Seligman, authentic happiness also involves engagement (flow), a complete loss of time when engaged in an activity in which one is completely absorbed in a meaningful activity. 
 
The elements of well-being are slightly different than happiness and include positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and achievement.  Seligman uses the anagram of PERMA to describe the characteristics of well-being.  Flourish’s main emphasis is to provide the reader with recent and ongoing research regarding how to improve PERMA in specific populations. 
 
What follows is a description of the components of PERMA.  Positive Emotion is the cornerstone of well-being as well as life satisfaction. Engagement addresses the issue of flow, losing one’s self in a task for which one is completely engaged.  One finds their flow when an individual’s strengths are used when challenged to the limits of their ability.  These first two elements are pursued for their own sake rather than to gain some other benefit or external “prize”.  Resiliency is the ability to bounce back from failures and regroup in the face of setbacks.  Meaning refers to working for something that is larger than one’s self and may be completely different from positive emotion.  For example, Abraham Lincoln, who famously experienced periods of depression also experienced great meaning in his work feeling that he was doing something that would impact the nation in a positive fashion for years to come.  Finally, Accomplishment is pursuing a goal for its own sake. 
 
Seligman makes many recommendations regarding how one can improve well-being.  He is forthcoming about the fact that he does not always use these in his own life but that he strives to do better.  He is a self-described “curmudgeon” and states if he can do this so can anyone else.  His family, who are now well versed in the elements of well-being call him out if he violates his own advice.  In one example, Seligman advises a gratitude visit in which one writes a letter and personally delivers it to someone to whom they are thankful.  He also recommends keeping a daily gratitude journal and after completing a task assessing the result in a ‘what went well exercise.'  Seligman describes the work of Angela Duckworth (a graduate of MAPP Masters of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania) who has done much research of the resiliency portion of PERMA, her research into Grit indicates that those who can pick themselves up after failures and continue to be motivated even in the face of setbacks will experience more ‘success’ than those who give up more easily. 
 
The remainder of the book describes how Seligman and others have created a Master’s of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program at the University of Pennsylvania and other activities in which Seligman and others have made efforts to share positive psychology with as many people as possible. Seligman describes the many varied people from salespeople to CEO’s, teachers and “coaches” who have benefitted from this program by capitalizing on their strengths and employing PERMA in their lives.   
Perhaps two of the most exciting endeavors that positive psychology has taken on thus far are pushing the characteristics of positive psychology into classrooms in Australia and implementing a positive psychology program in the military to build up the resilience and emotional well-being of soldiers and their families. The military has long been one of the most underserved populations regarding mental health and some military traditions have made it difficult to discuss emotional issue or struggles with others who serve in the military.  Seligman worked with members of the armed forces to create a program that seeks to change the awareness of illnesses such as PTSD and to make those serving more aware of the resources they have to assist them with both their physical and mental health, the reports which Seligman mentions suggest that the program has been quite successful and because of the large number of trainees will eventually produce the largest body of data thus far collected regarding the outcomes of well-being training.  Seligman refers to the training as creating a psychologically fit army.  The program identifies one’s personal social, spiritual and family fitness to determine one’s strengths and also to identify those who may be more vulnerable to emotional illness and to provide more proactive targeted in those areas.  The program has also looked at the potential ways in which trauma can be channeled into growth.
 
Seligman address those who have dismissed his work with Positive Psychology such as Barbara Ehrenreich who published, Bright-Sided:  How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking has Undermined America, she claims that she was told if she thought more positively, her breast cancer would go away, and she blames relentless optimism on the 2007 housing market because people believed that things would simply continue to get better in perpetuity.  Seligman believes this criticism is misguided and cites his research with PERMA as evidence-based while still admitting that much work is ongoing.  Seligman is careful to say that the research on positive psychology is not perfect and not plentiful but building. 
 
Seligman explores how well being can improve not only emotional health but also physical health.  Optimists have better cardiovascular health, less body fat and less death by cancer than their pessimistic counterparts.  Seligman created the signature strengths inventory to determine areas in which one excels.  Please see the activity to find your own signature strengths and use this to determine the activities for which you will likely excel and then try to find activities in which these strengths can be employed.  Seligman believes that everyone can increase their levels of well being they just have to opt in, and one method of beginning is to take the signature strengths inventory.
 
Resources
TED talk:  the new era of Positive Psychology
https://www.ted.com/talks/martin_seligman_on_the_state_of_psychology?language=en
 
Positive Psychology Center:  University of Pennsylvania
http://www.positivepsychology.org/people/martin-ep-seligman
 
University of Pennsylvania:  Authentic Happiness website
https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu
 
Huffington Post:  The Father of Positive Psychology and his two Theories of Happiness
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sze/the-father-of-positive-ps_b_7600226.html
 
Harvard Business Review:  Building Resilience
https://hbr.org/2011/04/building-resilience
 
The New Yorker:  Trying to cure depressions but inspiring torture
http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/theory-psychology-justified-torture
 
PERMA model
http://positivepsychologymelbourne.com.au/perma-model/
 
The Irish Times:  Can You Teach Well-being?
http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/health-family/can-you-teach-wellbeing-martin-seligman-thinks-so-1.2544072
 
Edge:  The Third Culture (a talk with Martin Seligman)
https://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/seligman04/seligman_index.html
 
VIA Institute on Character:  Strengths Test
http://www.viacharacter.org/www/Character-Strengths-Survey
 
 
Psychological Terms and Concepts
 
Charles Darwin
Angela Duckworth
Charles Murray
Tom Rath
Anxiety Disorder
Control/Experimental Group
Depression
Duchenne Smile
Extrovert/Introvert
Flow
GRIT
Immune System
Independent Variable
Learned Helplessness
Lymphocyte
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Optimist/ Pessimist
Parasympathetic Nervous System
Positive Emotion
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Psychotherapy
Self-consciousness
Signature Strength
Well-Being
 
 

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iScore5 AP Psychology is a new app dedicated to helping students score high marks on the AP examination that makes entertaining and engaging for students. The creators have designed a review app that functions like a game and helps students to master over 800 vocabulary words based on the course outline provided on the official College Board outline for AP Psychology.  The app, however, goes beyond merely learning basic vocabulary by challenging students to master multiple-choice questions in levels of increasing difficulty.  The app questions have all been written by experienced AP Psychology teachers or College professors of psychology all of whom are also AP exam readers.

The interactive interface of the app is easy to navigate, and students may choose to return to study mode to practice basic vocabulary at any point during the game.  The app records a running score allowing students to monitor their progress.  Within each level including the study mode the questions and practice items are organized according to the fourteen units outlined by the official College Board AP Psychology course outline. 

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The iscore5 AP Psychology app provides students with a fun and entertaining way to review for the exam.  Because all of the questions are crafted by expert AP Psychology teachers and college psychology professor, the quality of the questions is very similar to what will be seen on the AP exam.  Additionally, the app features a Leaderboard that allows students if they choose, to see how they are doing in comparison with others. 

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Volume Discounts
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Book Description

The Coalition for Psychology in Schools and Education (CPSE), a group of psychologists within the American Psychological Association (APA), recently announced the publication of the Top 20 Principles from Psychology for PreK-12 Teaching and Learning.  The Top 20 document was created by psychologists representing a wide range of specialties, including education, school, development, social, cognitive, psychometrics, media, counseling, and clinical. The principles are organized into five areas of psychological functioning:  cognition and learning, motivation, social and emotional dimensions, context and learning, and assessment. Each of the individual principles listed in the document includes an explanation of the concept, its relevance for instruction, specific tips for teachers, and a comprehensive list of related references.  Although the top 20 principles are designed to apply psychological science broadly to PreK–12 teaching, they can also be utilized specifically to enhance the curriculum of introduction to psychology courses and help students develop skills which will help them learn more effectively in all of their classes.

I.  Cognition and Learning - How do students think and learn?

1.  Growth Mindset: Research shows that learners who hold a growth mindset and believe that intelligence is malleable and success is related to effort level are more likely to remain focused on goals and persist despite setbacks.  A great way to start off the year in a psychology class is with a discussion of growth vs. fixed mindsets to help students understand how beliefs about intelligence can influence their own academic success.  Carol Dweck’s TED talk titled, The Power of Believing That You Can Improve is an excellent way to start out the year and introduce students to how psychology is relevant to their lives (see resources for link). 

2.  Prior Knowledge:  Prior knowledge influences growth and change in students. Facilitating conceptual growth or change requires first obtaining a baseline level of student knowledge prior to the start of each unit.  One way to assess prior knowledge involves starting the unit with a short list of five to ten true/false statements and having a class discussion about the results.  The results of this discussion can guide the selection of assignments and activities that will be appropriate for facilitating either conceptual growth or conceptual change.  Prior knowledge can be used to help students incorporate background knowledge and draw connections between units during the course.  For example, students can make connections between social psychology concepts including the fundamental attribution error and cognitive concepts such as representative heuristics.

3.  Limits of Stage Theories: Cognitive development and learning are not limited by general stages of development. It is important for instructors teaching Piaget’s cognitive stage theory to also reference the limitations of this approach.  Psychology curriculum should highlight the significance of Lev Vygotsky’s theory of zone of proximal development and the critical role that interactions with those who are more capable can have on learning and growth.  Instructors can use this research to facilitate learning by designing instruction that utilizes scaffolding, differentiation, and mixed ability grouping.  It is also critical that the most advanced students have the opportunity to work with others who will challenge them, including other students or the instructor.

4.  Facilitating Context:  Learning is based on context and generalizing learning to new contexts is not spontaneous, and needs to be facilitated.  Student growth and deeper learning is developed when instructors help students transfer learning from one context to another.  Students will also be better able to generalize learning to new contexts if instructors invest time in focusing on deeper learning. One method of developing this skill is to have students use their understanding of a particular unit to generate potential solutions for real-world problems. 

5.  Practice:  This principle details tested practices that will help students more effectively transfer learned materials into long-term memory.  In addition to the memory unit, examples from this principle can help inform instruction throughout the course.  By giving frequent formative assessments through practice problems, activities, and sample tests, instructors can help students increase their knowledge, skills, and confidence as well as help students identify areas in which they are struggling with content.  Additionally, by providing practice activities at spaced intervals (distributed practice) students will achieve greater increases in long-term retrieval ability.  Practice tests should include open-ended questions that require both the retrieval of existing knowledge and the challenge of applying that information to new situations or contexts.

6.  Feedback:  This principle highlights the importance of instructor responses and indicates the best manner in which to deliver feedback to students in order to maintain or increase motivation to learn.  Providing students with clear, explanatory, and timely feedback increases learning. The principle provides guidance for generating feedback that provides students with the information they need to make improvements and grow.  For example feedback should relate to the current state of a students progress and performance in reference to learning goals.  Feedback should also provide students with information or tools that will help them to increase their future performance and progress toward their goals.  Additionally as students work on new or challenging material frequent praise related to degrees of improvement is influential in helping students to persist toward difficult goals.

7.  Self-Regulation:  Skills, including attention, organization, self-control, planning, and memory strategies, improve learning and engagement and can be taught through direct instruction, modeling, and classroom organization.  Teachers can model organizational methods and assist students by highlighting learning targets at the start and conclusion of lessons, using classroom calendars, highlighting difficult concepts that will require more practice, breaking large projects into manageable components, using well designed rubrics, and allowing sufficient processing time through questioning, summarizing, and practice. Psychology students can apply this research to their own study habits such as learning to practice self-control by limiting the distractions presented by cell phones and social media.

8.  Creativity:  Creativity is considered a critical skill for the technology driven world of the 21st century and because it is not a stable trait, it can be taught, nurtured, and increased. Creativity in the psychology classroom can include opportunities for student designed research projects, video projects, demonstrations, and model building. The subject of how psychologists measure and increase creativity and the characteristics of creative individuals is an interesting component of the unit on intelligence.    

II.  Motivation - What motivates students?

9.  Intrinsic Motivation:  This principle is directed at how instructors can increase intrinsic motivation through classroom practices, and the design of activities that support the need of students to feel autonomous and self-motivated.  It is important to note that not everything of importance is intrinsically motivating to all students and that there is a place for extrinsic motivation in education. In psychology, during the unit on motivation, when intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are typically discussed, students can examine their own personal motivations and how they influence their success.  Lastly, students can examine the research related to the over-justification effect.  Daniel Pink’s TED talk titled, The Puzzle of Motivation, provides an excellent overview of the practical applications of the over-justification effect (see resources for link).

10.  Mastery Goals:  When students set performance goals, they have a tendency to avoid tasks that might expose weaknesses and end up missing opportunities that would foster the development of new skills.  Those with mastery goals are more likely to be motivated to learn new skills and achieve higher levels of competence.  Specific methods for organizing instruction can be used to help students choose mastery over performance goals although under certain circumstances such as competitions, performance goals may be more appropriate.

11.  Teacher Expectations:  The beliefs teachers have about their students affect students’ opportunities to learn, their motivation, and their learning outcomes.   Teachers should communicate high expectations for all students and avoid creating negative self-fulfilling prophecies.  When discussing self-fulfilling prophecies and the Rosenthal and Jacobson study during the social psychology unit, this principle can be used to show students how teachers can prevent the creation of negative self-fulfilling prophecies. 

12.  Goal Setting:  This principle explains how students can use short-term, specific, and moderately challenging goals to increase self-efficacy and build toward larger goals.  Students should maintain a record of progress toward their goals, which can be monitored by both the student and instructor.  After students experience success with moderately challenging proximal goals, they will be more likely to become intermediate risk takers which is one of the most significant attributes present in achievement-orientated individuals.  As a result, they will be capable of achieving larger, more distant goals.  Tips based on this principle can easily be used to create engaging class assignments for the motivation unit in the introduction to psychology curriculum.

III.  Social and Emotional Dimensions - Why are social context, interpersonal relationships, and emotional well-being important to student learning?

13.  Social Contexts:  Because learning occurs within multiple contexts, this principle emphasizes how the various communities to which students belong (e.g. families, peer groups, schools, neighborhoods), and their culture (e.g. shared language, beliefs, values, and behavioral norms), influence learning.  This principle is related specifically to many concepts from social psychology (e.g. norms, attribution theory, individualistic v. collectivist cultures) and provides suggestions for incorporating culture into every unit to increase student engagement and build stronger relationships.  Introductory psychology classes can incorporate opportunities for students to engage with the larger community through service learning projects, guest speakers, and psychology clubs.  

14.  Interpersonal Relationships:  Interpersonal relationships and communication are critical to both the teaching-learning process and the social development of students.  This principle provides detailed and specific guidelines for improving both teacher-student and student-peer relationships in the classroom.  The discussion of improving interpersonal relationships can be clearly tied to numerous units in psychology including social psychology, treatment, motivation, and cognition.  These and other units provide opportunities to each effective social skills including cooperation, perspective taking, empathy, delivering constructive feedback, and interpersonal problem solving.  Teachers can also encourage students to elaborate on their responses and allow for give and take during discussions. Students should be encouraged to seek clarification from others, actively listen, and learn to interpret nonverbal cues. Teachers should both model and encourage active which can involve matching facial expressions with verbal messages, asking questions, providing elaboration in response to questions, and seeking the perspectives of others.

15.  Well-Being:  The emotional well being of students influences their performance, learning, and development. Various components of emotional well-being can be included across many psychology units, such as self-concept and self-esteem (social psychology), self-efficacy and locus of control (motivation and personality), happiness, and coping skills (emotion and stress).  Student well being is an important factor that influences the participation, communication, and responsiveness of students.  Teachers can help facilitate emotional development by stressing the importance of empathy and compassion and by monitoring their expectations to ensure they are equally encouraging to all students, regardless of past performance.

IV.  Context and Learning - How can the classroom best be managed?

16.  Classroom Conduct:  Expectations for classroom conduct and social interaction are learned and can be taught using principles of behavior and effective classroom instruction.  Numerous research-based ideas are presented for both correcting inappropriate student behaviors and for establishing appropriate replacement behaviors at both the classroom and school level.  For example the first two weeks of school are considered to be a critical period for establishing effective classroom norms and procedures.  Another key way that teachers can eliminate problems in the classroom is to effectively plan activities for the entire class period that includes variety and interaction.

17.  Expectations and Support:  Effective classroom management is based on (a) setting and communicating high expectations, (b) consistently nurturing positive relationships, and (c) providing a high level of student support.  This principle highlights practical techniques to create a culture of high academic achievement and positive classroom behavior at both the classroom and school level. 

V. Assessment - How to assess student progress?

18.  Formative and Summative Assessment:  Formative and summative assessments are both important and useful, but require different approaches and interpretations.  Formative assessments are typically used as a part of everyday practice and are given either prior to or during instruction.  Such tools are designed to collect evidence regarding the progress of student learning in order to provide effective guidance.  Summative assessments, on the other hand, result in an overall evaluation of student learning or program effectiveness and are typically utilized at the end of a unit or course of study, thus having more limited impact on current instruction.  Frequent use of formative assessment accompanied by immediate and specific instruction helps students to achieve learning goals and assume a greater responsibility of their own learning process.  The analysis of data collected through formative assessment allows the instructor to differentiate instruction and provide appropriate individualized supports to increase student achievement.

19.  Assessment Development:  Student skill, knowledge, and ability are best measured with assessment processes grounded in psychological science with well-defined standards for quality and fairness.  Formative and summative assessments need to be evaluated for both reliability and validity.  The Top 20 document provides instructors with four essential questions that can be used to evaluate the overall validity of a particular assessment.
• How much of what you want to measure is actually being measured?
• How much of what you did not intend to measure is actually being measured?
• What are the intended and unintended consequences of the assessment?
• What evidence do you have to support your answers to the first three questions?
Assessments also need to be reliable which means that they produce results that are consistent indicators of student knowledge, skills, and abilities.  As such, they eliminate chance factors such as student motivation, student interest, or testing conditions. Instructors can improve the reliability and validity of formative and summative assessments by aligning them to learning targets, utilizing item analysis, discussing the results with other educators, and monitoring outcomes for discrepancies across groups or subgroups of students. During the unit on intelligence and individual differences it can be helpful to demonstrate to students how the unit exams can be evaluated for content validity by indicating that the assessments are aligned with learning targets or the National Standards for High School Psychology Curricula.  http://www.apa.org/education/k12/national-standards.aspx

20.  Assessment Evaluation:  Making sense of assessment data depends on clear, appropriate, and fair interpretation. Effective teaching requires that instructors be able to accurately interpret test results and clearly communicate the results to students and parents.  Students can use what they learn about testing and statistics to evaluate the various assessments given in class for reliability and validity.  Discussions of descriptive statistics are more meaningful when students examine their own assessments.


Summary:  Although the Top 20 document is not an exhaustive list of educational psychological research, it does provide an important starting point for improving teaching and learning outcomes.  The principles were vetted over many years based on major documents related to the science of teaching and learning.  These principles are helpful for the instructor but can also be incorporated into the psychology curriculum as examples of how applied psychology can be used to solve real world problems. 

Other Related Resources

Top 20 Principles From Psychology for PreK-12 Teaching and Leaning
Access the document through the APA at the following link  http://www.apa.org/ed/schools/cpse/top-twenty-principles.pdf

The Coalition for Psychology in Schools and Education (CPSE):  The following link will connect you with the extensive resources for teaching and learning created by this working group in the American Psychological Association. http://www.apa.org/ed/schools/cpse/

The following link is related to the idea of mindset and involves a TED talk by Carol Dweck - The power of believing that you can improve.  (Principle 1- Mindset)  http://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve/transcript?language=en

The following link to Carol Dweck’s website includes a short test to measure your mindset.  http://mindsetonline.com/

The following link is related to the idea of the trait of Grit and involves a TED talk by Angela Duckworth - The Key to Success? Grit.  (Principle 1 - Mindset).  http://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_the_key_to_success_grit?language=en#t-211

The following link is related to the ideas of intrinsic motivation and the overjustification effect and involves a TED talk by Daniel Pink – The Puzzle of Motivation.  (Principle 9 – Intrinsic Motivation).  http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation?language=en


Psychological Figures and Concepts
Carol Dweck
Angela Duckworth
Jean Piaget
Rosenthal and Jacobson
Lev Vygotsky
Assessment (formative and summative)
Attention
Attribution theory
Coping
Creativity
Culture (individualist and collectivist)
Differentiation
Distributed practice
Goals (mastery and performance)
Grit
Intelligence
Long-term memory
Mindset (growth v. fixed)
Motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic)
Norms
Reliability
Scaffolding
Self-concept
Self-efficacy
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Validity
Zone of proximal development

 

The One World School House: Education Reimagined
 Author(s):  Salman Khan
 ISBN:  13: 978-1455508389

APA Style Citation
Khan, S. (2012). The One World School House: education reimagined. New York: Twelve Hachette Book Group.

Book Description
The One World School House:  Education Reimagined 

 “I believed, and still believe, that teaching is a separate skill – in fact, an art that is creative, intuitive, and highly personal.  But it isn’t only an art.  It has, or should have, some of the rigor of science as well.” 
-       Salman Khan

Salman Khan, the author of The One World School House is also the founder of the website KhanAcademy.org which provides free instructional videos used by millions of people worldwide, making the website the most used storehouse of instructional videos on the Internet.  The book describes how the author began his career in education, creating videos to help an out of town family member with 6th grade math.  At the time, Salman Khan was an engineer and hedge fund manager with no training in education. The Khan Academy eventually grew to become a source of free education for students worldwide.  The ultimate goal of the Khan Academy today is to provide “A free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.”  His method is based on providing students with differentiated materials that allow for self-paced learning to help students gain mastery of concepts presented.  The Khan Academy includes self-paced software and video tutorials to track student progress and can be used by teachers in a classroom or independently by students.  Math tutorials ranging from basic addition to advanced calculus are available as well as lessons in health, economics, history, chemistry, biology, physics, computer programming, psychology, and more.  

The book presents a series of innovative solutions for well-established problems in education in what Khan envisions as an updated version of the one room schoolhouse.  He stresses the important role that technology can play in education, but also addresses that it must be enlightened use.  According to Kahn, if technology is not used meaningfully it will end up being simply a very expensive gimmick.  According to Cathy N. Davidson at Duke University, “ if you change the technology, but not the method of learning, the you are throwing good money after bad practice… (The iPad) is not a classroom-learning tool unless you restructure the classroom… The metrics, the methods, the goals and the assessments all need to change.”  The method Khan proposes changing most is the lecture, thus freeing teachers up for more face-to-face time with students.  This represents the foundation of his philosophy - freeing teachers from lecturing and using class time in a manner that advances learning and creativity involving truly meaningful one-on-one interactions between instructor and student. His ideas range from changes in how teacher time is utilized (teaching as a team sport), classroom design, feedback methods, student engagement, mastery learning, and differentiating instruction.  He stresses the importance of first deeply instilling basic concepts in order for students to have success with more complicated ideas.  Khan also presents some very interesting ideas about the school calendar and higher education.  The book offers intriguing new answers to a number of important questions that have the potential to transform education such as:

·      Why technology will make classrooms more human and teachers more important.
·      How and why we can afford to pay educators the same as other professionals.
·      How we can bring creativity and true human interaction back to learning.
·      Why we should be very optimistic about the future of learning.

The book addresses many of the questions facing the teaching profession and provides practical ideas that can be used to improve classroom instruction.  “How does education happen?  I see it as an extremely active, even athletic process.  Teachers can convey information.  They can assist and they can inspire – and these are important and beautiful things.  At the end of the day, however, the fact is that we educate ourselves.  We learn, first of all, by deciding to learn, by committing to learning.  Education doesn’t happen out in the ether, and it doesn’t happen in the empty space between the teacher’s lips and the students’ ears; it happens in the individual brains of each of us.”
-       Salman Khan

Other Related Resources
Salman Khan, author of The One World School House gave this TED talk which to date has been viewed over three million times.
http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html

Psychological Figures and Concepts
Benjamin Bloom
Creativity
Flipping the classroom
Learning styles (lack of evidence)
Long-term memory consolidation
Mastery learning
Neuroplasticity 
Tracking

How Children Succeed
Author(s):  Paul Tough
ISBN:  978-0544104402
APA Style Citation:
Tough, P. (2013). How children succeed: Grit, curiosity, and the hidden power of character: Mariner books.

Book Description
In How Children Succeed, author Paul Tough challenges the idea that cognitive ability is the most important determinant of one’s future success.  He cites research conducted by Angela Duckworth at the University of Pennsylvania which proposes that optimism, character, and what is described in the book as “Grit” are far better predictors of success in the future than exam scores.  Tough questions the outlook for the future of many upper middle class children who have not experienced failure and cannot regroup in the face of setbacks. He suggests that experiencing failure and learning how to persevere in the face of it is one of the greatest lessons children can learn. 

Tough features Elizabeth Spiegel, a chess teacher at IS 318, a low income public middle school in Brooklyn, as an example of an individual who focuses on teaching perseverance to her students.  Ms. Spiegel has built one of the best chess teams in the nation and recently swept all middle school categories at the national competition.  These are not students who come from advantaged backgrounds, they do not have the highest of IQ scores, and often they struggle in their classes, but they love and thrive in chess.  What Spiegel does at first seems to be cruel to the preadolescents.  She forces each player to walk through each step of a chess match after a failure to determine what they have done wrong in the hopes that they will learn from their mistakes.  She prepares her chess team for failure and focuses on these experiences as a learning opportunity rather than as an end point. 

Another important factor featured by Tough is the attachment between parents and children, which is formed early on in life.  Attachment has long been studied by researchers such as John Bowlby, Harry Harlow, and Mary Ainsworth who determined that early attachment and nurturing from parents actually helps children to become more emotionally healthy later in life (see the review for Love at Goon Park for more on Harry Harlow). A secure attachment is developed when a child is confident their caregiver will be there in a time of need.  If this develops, it (a secure attachment) allows infants to safely explore the world and become more independent and curious.  This research-based evidence seems to support the importance of parenting in helping to encourage independent exploration by the child.

Tough describes a program called “One Step”, which has been implemented on the South Side of Chicago in what was formerly the area of the Robert Taylor homes. The program enrolls disadvantaged children who are shooting for the ”One Goal” of graduating from college.  The are many obstacles which may hinder the success of these children.  Students were selected for this group because of the particular challenges they faced and were tutored after school and given assistance on college applications in addition to their academic courses.  In one featured case study, Tough follows a student named Kewauna who faced tough middle school years and was often in trouble.  As she goes through the “One Step” program she is determined to gain admission to the University of Illinois.  While she is not accepted to the U of I, she is accepted to Western Illinois University and in her first year she learns to take advantage of her professor’s office hours.  Although she had a low ACT score, she was successful because she attended extra tutoring sessions and sought out additional supports and at the conclusion of her freshman year in college Kewauna earned a 3.8 GPA.  Time will tell if Kewauna reaches her goal of graduating from college, but she has already fared far better than many might have predicted, in large part due to her “Grit”. 

Tough acknowledges that much more research needs to be conducted and that there is still much to learn regarding how to teach these skills to children.  He advises parents to be conscious of how important early childhood years can be for forming a strong attachment with a child and encourages educators to examine programs such as “One Goal” or “KIPP” which emphasize character rather than being solely focused on academic success to truly help children find their own way.  This is a great read for parents and teachers and provides thought provoking material to consider not how help children be better test takers, but to help them be more successful in all of their respective pursuits.

Other Related Resources
Book website
http://www.paultough.com/the-books/how-children-succeed/
TED talk Angela Duckworth
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tedtalks/angela-lee-duckworth-tedtalk_b_4277459.html?ir=Parents
What sets High Achievers apart? (APA Monitor:  December 2013)
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2013/12/high-achievers.aspx
Interview with Paul Tough
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRSBz69ubRY
NPR Podcast
http://www.npr.org/2012/09/04/160258240/children-succeed-with-character-not-test-scores
Does Teaching Grit Really Work?  (NPR)
http://www.npr.org/2014/03/17/290089998/does-teaching-kids-to-get-gritty-help-them-get-ahead?ft=1&f=1013

Psychological Figures and Concepts
Alfred Binet
Angela Duckworth
Carol Dweck
Charles Murray
Martin Seligman
Attachment
Character
Dopamine reward pathways
Grit
IQ scores
Mindset (growth vs. fixed)
Optimism
Social Intelligence