The Learning Scientists Podcast

In this episode we interview Rina Lai in London!

Episode 22 - Attention and the Classroom with Michael Hobbiss Learning Scientists This episode was funded by The Wellcome Trust , and supporters like you. For more details, please see our Patreon page . In today's episode, we feature one of our patrons,  Bob Reuter . Listening on the web? You can subscribe to our podcast to get new episodes each month! Go to our show on iTunes  or wherev...

In this episode, we interview Emma Blakey at the EARLI conference in London about executive function development in young children.

In this Episode, we discuss the importance of sleep for learning and self care, and talk about tips for bed time.

This is a bite-size research episode, where we briefly describe research findings on a specific topic. This week, Megan talks research findings showing that medical residents benefit from retrieval practice after didactic conferences.

Alyssa Smith, a 3rd year medical student at Chicago Medical School, talks about using evidence-based learning strategies.

In this episode for parents, we first briefly review spaced practice, interleaving, and retrieval practice. We then talk about elaboration, concrete examples, and dual coding. We talk about what parents might see their children doing if their teachers or schools are encouraging these effective learning strategies. We also talk about ways parents can help their kids use these effective learning str...

In this episode for parents, we cover spaced practice, a little bit about interleaving, and retrieval practice. We talk about what parents might see their children doing if their teachers or schools are encouraging these effective learning strategies. We also talk about ways parents can help their kids use these effective learning strategies.

In this episode for students, we briefly recap how students can use spacing and retrieval practice. Then, we shift into explaining how students might use other effective study strategies, interleaving, elaboration, dual coding, and concrete examples, to make study sessions more effective and efficient.

MEGAN SUMERACKI: Welcome to the Learning Scientist Podcast, a podcast for teachers, students, and parents about evidence-based practice and learning. YANA WEINSTEIN: The Learning Scientist Podcast is funded by the Wellcome Trust. MEGAN SUMERACKI: Hi. I'm Dr. Megan Sumeracki, a professor at Rhode Island College. YANA WEINSTEIN: And I'm Dr. Yana Weinstein, a professor at UMass Lowell. MEGAN SUMERACK...

This is a bite-size research episode, where we briefly describe research findings on a specific topic. This week, Yana Weinstein talks about dual coding vs. learning styles. You don't have to be a "visual learner" to benefit from the combination of visuals and words! (In fact, there's no such thing as a "visual learner".)

In this episode, we talk about the last strategy, dual coding. We talk about ways teachers and students can utilize dual coding, and distinguish this from learning styles.

This is a bite-size research episode, where we briefly describe research findings on a specific topic. This week, Megan Sumeracki talks about the need for providing multiple concrete examples to facilitate students' ability to transfer the underlying idea to new problems.

In this episode, we introduce Concrete Examples. Most teachers probably use concrete examples, but in this episode we talk about why it is important to use more than one!

This is a bite-size research episode, where we briefly describe research findings on a specific topic. This week, Yana Weinstein talks about interleaving while trying to learn to categorize, such as paintings by different painters or chemical categories such as alcohol. 

In this episode, we introduce the concept of interleaving. We explain when it works, why it works, and open questions.

In this bite-size research episode, Megan Sumeracki talks about a research study where 6th and 7th grade students used elaborative interrogation independently and with a partner. Elaborative interrogation improved learning compared to reading and students picking their own learning strategy. The effects were durable, and students who used elaborative interrogation still knew more than other groups...

In this podcast, we discuss elaboration, specifically elaborative interrogation. We also talk about how teachers might implement elaborative interrogation in the classroom, and some things to watch out for when students are using this strategy.

In this bite-size research episode, Yana Weinstein talks about the learning benefits of combining spaced practice and retrieval practice. Assessment of both fact learning and application of knowledge is discussed.

In this podcast, we discuss what spaced practice is and how to utilize it to promote learning. We share some ways teachers can help students use spaced practice on their own, and ways for teachers to integrate spacing into their own teaching. Finally, we share some personal stories about spacing out learning or cramming before important events.

In this bite-size research episode, Megan Sumeracki discusses research comparing short-answer, multiple-choice, and hybrid quiz formats. She addresses the question, do some formats produce more learning than others?

In this podcast, we discuss what retrieval practice is and how it benefits learning. We also talk about ways to implement retrieval-based learning activities in the classroom and for independent studying.

In this episode, the two of us – Dr. Yana Weinstein (UMass Lowell) and Dr. Megan Sumeracki (formerly Megan Smith; Rhode Island College) – introduce ourselves and tell you a bit about our backgrounds, how we came to start the Learning Scientists project, and what we’ll be talking about on this podcast.