Computers, networks, and mobile devices are deeply embedded in classrooms. Even if we avoid their use in formal lessons, students are going to arrive with the devices in their bags and pockets, and they will use them for research, calculation, writing, and other information tasks. It seems reasonable to expect all instructors to teach, model, Read More
Author: Gary Ackerman
Typology of Adult Learning
Much of the research on cognition and learning focuses attention on understanding k-12 populations (those who are aged approximately five years through 18 years). The authors of How People Learn 2 do recognize the increasing expectation that older individuals learn as part of their work. Further, they recognize the increasing interest among older populations in Read More
The Myth of Data in Schools
In 2018, one of my high school classmates wrote Educational Inequality and School Finance: Why Money Matters for America’s Students (Baker, 2018) in which he takes a close look at the myth “we are spending more, but getting less” out of our school budgets in the United States. Looking back on more than 30 years Read More
If You Are Going to Study…
I’m rereading How People Learn II as I prepare to use it with some students (who are teachers). The authors have provided clear and concise reviews of some of the recent findings in the cognitive and learning sciences. Perhaps most useful is the section in which the authors summarize what we know about studying. (Wise Read More
WEIRD Perspectives
Much of the science surrounding teaching and learning has occured in cultures that are white, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD). While I am not criticizing that focus, especially by researchers and practitioners who work in those cultures, I do suggest we must use care in extending what we “know” about teaching and learning from Read More
Downloading Cognition to Digital Devices
The digital devices we carry in our pockets and that we keep on our desks and in students’ backpacks hold amazing capacity to access and manage and create information. We can download many repetitive cognitive tasks to these devices and they complete in fractions of seconds what took me many minutes to do as a Read More
Wisdom
In his 2010 book Wisdom, Stephen Hall who is an award-winning writer about science and society, posed the question, “How do we make complex, complicated decisions and life choices, and what makes some of these choices so clearly wise that we all intuitively recognize them as a moment, however brief, of human wisdom?” (p. 6). Read More
Liberal Arts Education and IT
A liberal arts education, the primary purpose of higher education for many generations, was originally intended to prepare young people to be able to understand complex problems and apply their skills to solving problems in diverse fields. The value of liberal arts education is lost on many stakeholders, including many who advocate for coding, STEM, Read More
Timeline of Updating Teachers’ Practice
With the growing complexity of the domain of teaching and learning, it is reasonable to conclude that educators will be engaged in increasingly dynamic learning in all aspects of their domain: the content they teach, the natural phenomena surrounding human learning, and the application of technology to curriculum and instruction design. Compared to 20th century Read More
Seven Principles of Good Instruction
Arthur Chickering and Stephen Ehrman (1996) concluded that while ICT-rich learning cannot occur by either technologists or educators working in isolation, the technology selected and used in learning environments can promote seven principles of good practice. Technology can encourage contact between educators and students encourage reciprocity and cooperation among students facilitate active learning and performance Read More