This term I will be focusing on the psychology of learning including memory, metacognition, intelligence, and much more. I have some excellent guests lined up and cannot wait to share their insights with you. I am excited to be partnering with British Psychological Society who also provide resources for teachers which can be found here.
Please do visit my website if you want more information about me and my work www.changingstatesofmind.com
You can also find a couple of Bonus Episodes on Mental Health here.
Metacognition, cognition, revision strategies...these are the bread and butter of teaching and yet many misconceptions are still out there. Jonathan is a teacher, author and research with a particular focus on memory and metacognition. This discussion is the perfect start to a season of podcasts on Learning to learn - Cognitive psychology in education.
You can find out more about Jonathan and links to his books at his website: jonathanfirth.co.uk
Can't wait for next week? Watch ‘Top 10 Tips on Learning and memory’ video right here.
There are many misconceptions about memory, that it is like a video camera accurately recording our lives. The differences between short- and long-term memory. In this short podcast I look at the underpinning theories of short-term and long-term memory and how teachers can utilise this to help students prepare for exams, getting information to stick in their long-term memory.
Want to find out more about memory and learning? Watch ‘Top 10 Tips on Learning and Memory’ video right here.
Dr. Rebecca Merkley is Assistant Professor in Cognitive Science at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada interested in how people learn. She studies how young children learn early maths skills and also investigates whether knowing how people learn could help teachers support all learners.
This interview is a fascinating discussion ranging from Executive function to special educational needs to gender differences in STEM to the nature of intelligence and much more.
Find my video here: www.changingstatesofmind.com/memorytips
Cognitive psychology is probably the most important branch of psychology for teachers in helping to understand memory, learning and education. In this week's podcast I consider 3 questions about the cognitive approach to psychology to help teachers:
You can find out more about apply cognitive psychology on my video at www.changingstatesofmind.com/memorytips
Over recent years we have learned so much about adolescent brain development and how changes in the brain affect learning. In this wide ranging interview with Dr Iroise Dumontheil we discuss how emotion, social interactions and learning are intertwined, the distraction of phones, how executive functions (working memory, inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility) are different in teenagers an adults and most importantly as teachers, how we can support the teenage brain to learn effectively.
The book mentioned is :
Hohnen B, Gilmour J & Murphy T. (2019). The Incredible Teenage Brain.
There are lots of tricks and tips that we can use to help remember things for exams. But ultimately understanding material makes learning easier. In this podcast I explore a few of the theories that underpin our understanding of long term memory and how students and teachers can use this understanding to help prepare for exams.
If you want to download the video on memory you can do so here.
Craik, F. I. M., & Tulving, E. (1975). Depth of processing and the retention of words in episodic memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 104(3), 268–294.
This week I am talking to Matt Slocombe from the Centre for Educational Neuroscience. His research investigates the cognitive and developmental processes involved in reasoning and learning by analogy and the implications of this research for educational practice. This fascinating discussion unpicks how to make learning by analogy effective in the Classroom as well as the pitfalls. It is clear that whilst analogy is a really useful tool for teaching, psychologically it is quite a complicated skill that we need to learn.
Have you ever heard a song on the radio and it transports you back to different time? Or smelt Cold Tar soap and remembered your grandparents? Songs and smells amongst other things can act as cues to recall. Knowing how to use cues to help us remember can be helpful when revising. This episode looks that theory behind cues and how we can use this to help us learn more effectively and hopefully recall more efficiently in an exam.
In this interview Lucy Cragg discusses a wide range of research and theories surrounding working memory and the implications for the classroom, especially for maths. Working memory is so important in helping control what we are thinking about, what we are paying attention to and what we are ignoring, and yet for some this can go awry. Understanding Working Memory can help teachers better support young people in the classroom.
Links mentioned in the podcast: www.pretermbirth.info
Every time you teach your students something you literally change their brain. I think this is the most amazing concept - every lesson, each learning experience students have causes brain cells to make new and stronger connections. Understanding how our brains develop over time and how individual's differ could in time help us to created more effective curricula and interventions to support every learner. This episode explores what neuropsychology can offer to classroom practice.
Interview with Dr Ashok Jansari
Neuropsychology holds a unique fascination, the way the brain functions in order for us to survive in the world and it's adaptability when damaged never fails to surprise us. How we can use our understanding of damaged brain to increase our knowledge of the intact brain is Dr Ashok Janari's specialism. In this interview we consider how our understanding of neuropsychology can applied to the classroom through neuroplasticity, prosopagnosia (face blindness), the importance of sleep and the role of the prefrontal cortex.