Teaching and Learning thoughts
Source: https://poets.org/poem/student-who-used-ai-write-paper It’s likely that many of you have already seen this poem by J. Fasano. It’s been shared widely on social media, and likely used in several schools. I think the poem hints at an important point that is often missed in discussions about so-called “AI” and education (note: we should probably use the … Continue reading What thinking are…
I first learned how Large Language Models work from this provocatively titled article: ChatGPT is Bullshit. When I saw the title, I clicked through because I thought it would be a fun, “joke” article, but what I found was a serious attempt to explain the non-intuitive (to me) way that so called “artificial intelligence” large-language … Continue reading Whatever AI is, it sure ain’t human →
image credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_Me_If_You_Can#/media/File:Catch_Me_If_You_Can_2002_movie.jpg In the 2002 movie Catch Me If You Can, the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio, Frank, is impressive: he successfully pretends to be an airline pilot, a Secret Service agent, a medical doctor, and is beginning to figure out a way to fake his way through the bar exam before he goes ……
When I was a new teacher, I used what I now call the “oh crap” model of assessment: I would teach for several days, students and I would have great conversations, and then I would realize after a while “Oh crap! I haven’t put any grades in the gradebook!” I would hurriedly make a quiz … Continue reading Assessment is Uncomfortable →
I learned about schema theory and memory from S. Chew’s article “Having Knowledge Is Not the Same as Using It” (thanks Steve! Download available here from Researchgate) and I keep thinking about applications for teaching and learning. It’s my new favorite thing! As Steve describes in the article, schema (mental rules we use to organize … Continue reading Demos for Teachers #5: Schema theory and…
UPDATED POST: my friend Steve Chew sent me information about this task switching demonstration, so I’m updating this post to include two versions (thanks Steve!) This demonstration is a fast, foolproof way to help students and teachers experience the cost of switching between cognitive tasks. Even when it feels effortless and instant, interrupting a task … Continue reading Demos for teachers #4:…
This is my favorite cognitive psychology/teaching and learning demonstration because the resulting data is evidence of possibly the most important lesson we should take away from memory theory. As Daniel Willingham said: “Memory is the residue of thought.” One of the most important ideas we should build learning experiences on is this: the more deeply … Continue reading Demos for Teachers #3: Deep…
This is the demonstration I keep in my “back pocket” and break out when I cover a class for another teacher. It doesn’t require any equipment and it’s bomb proof: it works every time, and you can use it to start discussions about hypothesis testing, or just get students cognitively engaged in thinking about how … Continue reading Demos for teachers #2: Close your Eyes… →
I love talking with teachers and administrators about cognitive psychology research and how these findings relate to teaching, learning, and assessment. One effective way to start these discussions is to use a “demonstration” – reproducing (at least in a limited way) a key study related to a cognitive psychology concept, and talking about what the … Continue reading Demos for teachers #1: Tappers…
T. Guskey is one of my favorite grading authors/thinkers/researchers. His advice is clear, backed up by research, and useful for teachers. So I got interested when I saw that he co-authored a paper about standards based grading: Is Standards-Based Grading Effective? In this article, Guskey and Link address several important topics about standards based grading … Continue reading Changing my mind –…