The Emotional Toll of Graduate School
(Scientific American)
Mental health disorders and depression are far more likely for grad students than they are for the average American
Tips for Implementing Evidence-Based Learning Strategies in your Classes
(Learning Scientists)
This week’s blog is a bit of a crossover, covering the same topic as the podcast episode from this week: tips for implementing evidence-based learning strategies in your classes.
Navigating Misunderstandings and Conflict
(Inside Higher Ed)
Misunderstandings in academe are common and often innocuous, yet they can create conflict. Perhaps someone misheard something you said, and now they are angry with you. Perhaps they heard your words correctly but comprehended them in a manner that did not align with your intent. Or perhaps they interpreted your silence in a way that was inconsistent with the message you wanted to send.
Can ‘Creativity’ Be Taught?
(The Learning Spy)
The problem is that creativity is a chance happenstance. it is never predictable; if it were it wouldn’t require any special creative process. My argument is that not that creativity is an automatic by-product of knowing more, just that it’s impossible without knowing lots.
Exercise May Improve Thinking Skills In People As Young As 20
(Science Daily)
Regular aerobic exercise such as walking, cycling or climbing stairs may improve thinking skills not only in older people but in young people as well, according to a new study. The study also found that the positive effect of exercise on thinking skills may increase as people age.
Want to Squelch Fake News? Let the Readers Take Charge
(Science Daily)
A new study shows that crowdsourced judgments about the quality of news sources may effectively marginalize false news stories and other kinds of online misinformation.
Social-Emotional Learning, Furniture, and Books: What Products Teachers Want Most
(Ed Week Market Brief)
Social-emotional learning is a growing focus for educators on the platform—the number of projects that mentioned the strategy increased by 100 percent from last year. This data point mirrors results from a 2018 Education Week Research Center survey, which found that social-emotional learning is on the rise: Nearly 90 percent of district leaders said they had already invested in related products, or were planning to do so.
The Effortless Perfection Myth
(Inside Higher Ed)
Along with which professors to avoid and the best places to buy late-night food on campus, one of the first pieces of advice I received during my college orientation week from upperclassmen was to be wary of “effortless perfection,” or “the expectation that one would be smart, accomplished, fit, beautiful and popular, and that all this would happen without visible effort.”
Tricks for Surviving the Mid-Winter Teaching Blues
(Education Week Teacher – Subscription Required, Free Trial)
It truly can be a difficult time to power through, especially when teaching is demanding of us on so many levels—physically, intellectually, socially, emotionally, even spiritually—and the cold, short winter days (here in the northeast, at least) have us feeling depleted.
When Majority-Black Classroom Has a White Teacher, Punishment May Be More Common
(Education Week Teacher – Subscription Required, Free Trial)
These negative interactions are associated with lower academic performance for black students, the study found.
Inquiry-Based Tasks in Social Studies
(Edutopia)
Assignments that are bigger than a lesson and smaller than a unit are a good way to experiment with inquiry-based learning.
Group Work That Works
(Edutopia)
“The most effective creative process alternates between time in groups, collaboration, interaction, and conversation… [and] times of solitude, where something different happens cognitively in your brain,” says Dr. Keith Sawyer, a researcher on creativity and collaboration, and author of Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration.
Cognitive Load Theory and the Bit in the Middle
(Filling the Pail)
In learning about Cognitive Load Theory, I have come to realise the importance of a middle stage, particularly when dealing with concepts that are high in element interactivity, as I frequently do when teaching maths and physics.
Why We Need More Testing, Not Less
(Medium)
Over the last century, research in cognitive psychology has ushered in the following undeniable empirical reality: Testing enhances learning. Attempting to retrieve information from memory leads to a host of direct and indirect benefits with respect to the retention, understanding, and application of knowledge and skills.
Why Mindfulness And Trauma-Informed Teaching Don’t Always Go Together
(KQED – Mind/Shift)
But it’s also important to realize that some of the ways mindfulness is practiced — sitting still, eyes closed, in silence — can also be triggers for students who have experienced trauma.
Are You Assigning Too Much Reading? Or Just Too Much Boring Reading?
(The Chronicle of Higher Education)
I know the purists are going to disagree with any notion that we might adapt our syllabi to better fit Generation Z, but opposition to changing the way we assign material strikes me as less and less realistic as we tromp further into the digital age. If no one is reading the texts we assign, then assigning them amounts to not much more than virtue-signaling to other professors. In this case, the virtue being signaled is “academic rigor.”
Pursuing PhDs: The Toll Of Graduate Education On Mental Health
(Psychopharmacology and Substance Abuse Newsletter)
Anxiety and depression are not uncommon among graduate students: Here are some strategies that may help.
Text Analysis Of Thousands Of Grant Abstracts Shows That Writing Style Matters
(The Conversation)
Is there a financial relationship to what or how people communicate? Placing a value on words can feel crude or highfalutin – unless you’re in academia, where words are often tied to money. More publications can lead to a promotion, and receiving grant aid can fund new research.
Are Colleges Failing Students with Mental Illness?
(Psychology Today)
Our best colleges too often fail students who deserve better.
Helping Students Maintain Habits: Encouraging Persistence With Behavioural Psychology
(Improving Teaching)
Students often take three steps forwards then two steps back. Academic progress is not linear: students ‘learn’ and then forget. Changes in student behaviour are no different.
Another Tool To Improve Student Mental Health? Kids Talking To Kids
(Hechinger Report)
A New Mexico school addresses sexual assault, suicide and other hard topics with help from the people students are most likely to listen to each other.
The Smartest Parents Let Their Children Fail
(Inc.com)
It’s hard now, but it will pay off, according to bestselling author Jessica Lahey.
8 Ways Parents Can Help Kids Who Are Being Bullied
(US News)
Kids can be cruel. Here’s what parents can do to turn the tide.
Redefining Success After A PhD
(University Affairs)
A successful career transition starts with an adviser who’s supportive, encouraging, and open to different ways of defining professional victory.
