Psychology in the Classroom

This week Lyndsey Hayes talks about how she has learned to support learners who don't have English as their first language, the challenges this poses and some really practical tips to help them learn.  This is the second podcast introducing psychology teachers talking about how psychology has influenced their practice. Below are the links to some useful resources that Lyndsey mentions: Internation...

...with Dr Georgia Pavlopoulou and Dr Myrto Kakoulidou. How do neurodiverse individuals experience emotions?  Is it different to neurotypical people?  If not then should schools be relying on interventions based on neurotypical (adult) experiences?  The team at RE-STAR (Regulating Emotions - Strengthening Adolescent Resilience) are part way through a huge 4 year project to understand emotional exp...

This week sees the first of the 'talking to psychology teachers' series, Dani Bryton discusses how the psychology of motivation has influenced her to think carefully about the social dynamics in the classroom: from seating plans to making a cuppa for your colleague, managing the relationships and building a sense of belonging in your classroom can have a clear and visible impact on academic outcom...

As we start a new academic year how can we ensure that we manage our own wellbeing? This week my guest, Gemma Drinkall, a qualified coach, trainer and supervisor shares her top tips on setting boundaries, managing expectations and learning how to look after your own wellbeing, after all you can't pour from an empty cup.     If you would like to learn more about Gemma's work you can find it on thes...

It's the holidays - but just how can we make the most of the summer break and ensure we go back to school rested and recharged, ready for another year.  In this week's episode, the final one for the 2022-23 academic year, Dr Jill Dunbar and Dr Nicola Cann, part of the team behing the Travel Psychologist blog talk about their top tips for getting the most out of your holidays.  And if you happen to...

...How to reduce upsetting experiences in school for young people with ADHD and Autism with Dr Sylvan Baker and Prof. Jane Hurry In this podcast we discuss the amazing work that is being done in 'work package 5' of the RE-STAR project.  We discuss the importance of communication and leadership in driving change.  As well as ways to hear the different voices in our school communities. If you would...

The 7th and 8th July was the 40th Annual Conference for the Association for the Teaching of Psychology.  With 34 workshops and 3 keynote talks it was a veritable feast of information as well as a fantastic time to catch up with our psychology family.  Whether or not you teach psychology this episode covers some really interesting ideas for your classroom, thought provoking conversations and psycho...

This week I am joined by Bradley Busch and Edward Watson from InnerDrive for one final time this year and we are talking about their new book ' Teaching and Learning Illuminated '.  Chris Hack from Abingdon School is also co-hosting the episode.  This week you have the chance to win your very own copy of the book so just listen to the episode and find out how you can win. (T&Cs can be found  here...

This week Karen Duffy and the Psychology PGCE students of Manchester Metropolitan University have taken over the podcast.  Take a listen to this lively conversation about the dreams, fears and expectations of teachers just entering the profession.  A reminder too, for those of us who have been here a while, about the joys of the classroom.  With just a hint of how a knowledge of psychology has sup...

What a year this has been, as I upload this podcast I currently have 145 episodes of Psychology in the Classroom for you to listen to.  But there are still more to come but this is the last solo episode of the year so I thought I would take the chance to reflect on the year gone and look forward to the year ahead.  As I plan for 2023-24 please do let me know what you would like to learn more about...

This podcast reviews a paper with the title 'Teacher, forgive me, I forgot to do it' the impact of children's prospective memory on teachers' evaluation of academic performance .  Prospective memory is, according to Einstein and McDaniel the memory for intentions. It enables us to remember to carry out an action that has been planned for a predefined time in the future, while performing a concurre...

The Note Taking Effect is the well documented effect that taking notes during learning increases retention and recall.  There are factors that effect it such as whether you type or hand write - the latter is more effective - for example.  This episode looks at research into the underlying cognitive processes that may help us improve our students retention through more effective note taking techniq...

This week looks at a research paper into the Pomodoro Technique - breaking down revision into 25 minutes segments with 5 minute breaks.  Whilst many people use this we often don't consider why it is useful or what processes might support its use or not.  The use of system-regulated breaks may have several benefits over self-regulated breaks such as reducing secondary cognitive load, making student...

This week Psychology in the Classroom talks to Dr Daniel Jolley, Assistant Professor in Social Psychology at the University of Nottingham. His research explores the psychology of conspiracy theories,  where he is interested in understanding why millions of people find conspiracy theories so appealing. He is also keen to explore the social consequences of believing in conspiracy theories and develo...

This week (15th May 2023) is Mental Health Awareness week and the theme is anxiety and to mark it I am looking at the link between perfectionism and anxiety.  This is based on two papers by Burcas and Cretu (2021) and Egan et al. (2022) that explore the link between the two concepts in different ways.    I have got quite a lot out there this week so please do take a look at my blog for OCR and my...

How do students choose A levels?  There are all sorts of reasons that might influence a student's A level choices such as enjoyment of a subject, parental influence, university requirements and in Psychology we talk about the therapy hypothesis - that students choose psychology to better understand themselves and possibly their own neurodivergence or mental health conditions.  But the GCSE data in...

We all use videos in teaching and the ability to embed them directly into powerpoints or just find a good link on Youtube has transformed our ability, as teachers, to bring learning to life.  But passively consuming videos doesn't necessairly encourage long term learning.  This week we look at research that considers how to make the most of videos to aid learning.  Based on Fiorella, L. (2022) Lea...

This week I am speaking to Bradley Busch from InnerDrive about the most recent research on the impact of social media and screens.  We consider how teens navigating this new digital world are affected in terms of Mental Health, wellbeing, learning and life in general.  As parents we also share some of the challenges we have have faced as digital immigrants when our children are digital natives, an...

The second of 5 podcasts helping you to make the most of your revision.  In this episode we will think about making your revision as effective as possible and how to avoid bad revision strategies that feel good but don't help you remember things long term.  You can listen to other podcasts in the series on this link or hear more about sleep here.

The fourth of 5 podcasts helping you to make the most of your revision.  In this episode we will think about where you revise and things that make it easier or harder to get started and stay focused.  It also discusses whether music is a good or bad thing and the challenges of mobile phones.  You can listen to other podcasts in the series on this link.

The third of 5 podcasts helping you to make the most of your revision.  In this episode we will consider 5 effective revision strategies that can help you make the most of your revision.  You can watch a short video and listen to other podcasts in the series on this link.

The second of 5 podcasts helping you to make the most of your revision.  In this episode we will think about making your revision as effective as possible and how to avoid bad revision strategies that feel good but don't help you remember things long term.  You can watch a short video and listen to other podcasts in the series on this link.

The first of 5 podcasts helping you to make the most of your revision.  In this episode we will think about the best way to plan your revision to make sure that you get the most out of the time you are revising and a balance between work and play.  You can watch a short video and listen to other podcasts in the series on this link.

When we switch between one task and another due to an interuption there is a cost.  Whilst we may feel like we are managing we often underestimate the toll task-switching has on our time, productivity and wellbeing.  In this episode we take a brief look at how we get interupted, the cost of those interuptions and the impact it has on learning, productivity and our wellbeing as a whole.  Plus there...

This week we really start to draw on previous episodes with the theory of Dual Coding.  Key to this is Working Memory Model (for a image of this please use this link ) which is covered here.  This epsiode then discusses dual coding before extending to the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning proposed by Mayer (2002) and links it back to  Schemas and  Cognitive Load Theory (the links take you ba...