There can be little question that characteristics of our brains differentiate humans from other creatures. Increasingly, cognitive scientists recognize our brains are designed for the social interactions that have allowed humans to cooperate, and this cooperation has enabled our species to avoid extinction. Cognitive and developmental psychologist Michael Tomasello (2014) described the importance of social Read More
I wrote this piece for another audience a couple of years back… it still seems quite relevant given the observation I made this year in middle schools. It was with horror that I walked up and down the boardwalk of the mid-Atlantic beach I visited for the first time with my family this summer. Every Read More
The idea of using new technology for cognitive tasks has been well-received by some and ill-received by others, and that has been true throughout human history, especially at transitions when one dominant technology was being replaced by another. Using computers to support human cognition was a central theme of information theorist Vannevar Bush’s seminal article Read More
Alvin Toffler (1980) is credited with introducing the term prosumer to describe the pattern of media use that he accurately predicted would dominate in the digital age. The term combines producer and consumer, and a prosumer is described as one who both produces and consumes, sometimes simultaneously. Wikipedia, the open source encyclopedia, is an example Read More
Several years ago, some colleagues created a brochure for faculty in which they described five active learning strategies. These can be used in any classroom to engage students with any content. The work is still available on their website: http://mwcc.edu/wp-content/uploads/blogs.dir/47/files/2012/09/MC081-02_Active-Learning-Strategies.pdf
Two educators I met as they were participants in case studies that crosses my desk recently are adherents to learning styles. This is the widely-held but false belief that individuals have preferred methods of learning. According to this idea, one who is an “auditory learner” will benefit from hearing explanations while “visual learners” will benefit Read More
“Just what does ‘good’ technology-rich teaching and learning look like?” This question has focused my attention as I recently returned to the field. There is little doubt that classroom are now filled with digital devices. For the first decades of digital teaching and learning, we yearned for the funds to make sure every students had Read More
When working and learning in classrooms in which the educator attempts to make the tasks authentic (or as authentic as is reasonable given the constraints that limit any classroom), the students will be engaged in active learning. They will be interacting with others as they work with and create information in a manner that is Read More
Since computers were first introduced to classrooms, educators have explored various methods for using computers to access, process, and create information. Computer literacy, an instructional model built on the assumption that one who knew the parts and functions of components could create useful products was discredited as was the extensive use of drill-and-practice software in Read More
As I have been thinking about learning… and teaching… and how the two are not positively associated in the manner we often plan, I have been focusing on several assumptions that I make about learning which are not always shared with others: Motivation to learning is a multifaceted endeavor. Learners are driven to arrive in Read More