I am rereading much of my library to make decisions about which books to keep and which need to find another home before I move again. Several titles on my shelves focus on creativity. This refers, of course, to that aspect of human cognition that allows new ideas to be created. In Nancy Anreasen’s 2005 Read More
Educational theory has been marked by a steady progression of ideas: Instructionism posited knowledge could be transferred from outside a learner’s brain into it, and one stored there, it was available for use to solved problems and build new knowledge. Constructivism posited social interaction led learners to build new knowledge inside his or her brain. Read More
What are the fundamental “things” that teachers need to understand? This question has been interesting to me thorough my career, and the list that comprises my answer appears to have changed (at least if I am interpreting the notes I have kept and saved over my career accurately). One of my current answers is backwards Read More
Open educational resources are materials designed (usually) by teachers to support teaching and learning. An book may be an OER, a test or worksheet, a presentation, video or simulation, image, sound or any other work. Most who are new to OER have little trouble understanding the educational resource part of OER. Teacher recognize them as Read More
I recently objected to a colleague who was using “cooperate” and “collaborate” as synonyms. As I read the best thinkers about teaching and learning, I find the difference described in their writing about the differences makes sense and helps to to clarify my own thinking about what happens in classrooms (both mine and my colleagues’). Read More
Teachers know “proficiencies” are coming to dominate as the buzzword that is attracting the attention of educational leaders and policy makers. (Some might characterize this as a distraction of attention from important issues and needs, but I will proceed without comment on that speculation.) One of the disputes I have with how this is being Read More
I am in the middle of rereading Carl Bereiter’s 2002 book Education and Mind in the Knowledge Age. Among the intriguing ideas is the book is his confrontation of the “mind as a container” metaphor. Recent generations of educators have operated under the assumption that one’s brain is a container and that what we know Read More
54: Cognitive Lod Theory This post complements this earlier one on The Lens of Cognitive Load Theory While technology acceptance is a theory that can explain and predict the decision to use a technology, cognitive load theory (Sweller, Ayres, & Kalyuga, 2011) (CLT) predicts and explains technology use once it has been adopted. CLT is Read More
There has always been something suspicious to me about “learning styles.” As teachers, we are supposed vary our delivery, so that each student can learn through the style that works best for the individual. The idea seemed too simple, and it seemed that it did not really explain what I observed with my students. “Learning Read More
I have been reviewing Technology-Rich Instruction: Classrooms in the 21st Century, my book that was published in 2015 and discovering how much of it seems dated. (This observation is despite my desire to write a book that would inform teachers and education leaders for longer than the typical 6-18 months we can expect from a Read More