The production effect, coined by researchers at the University of Waterloo in 2010, was first observed in language learners who improved recall for new words by speaking them aloud. It was first documented in a series of experiments in which “the mere act of reading words aloud resulted in substantially better memory than reading them… Read More

“Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most.” –Augusta F. Kantra I find that most time management strategies don’t work for me because they are designed around time rather than the way the brain actually works. For example, it doesn’t help me to break my day into a series of… Read More

What is it about having an important task to complete that makes us want to focus on anything but that one task? Procrastinate, postpone, delay—call it what you like, but there’s no denying that our tendency to put things off until the last minute can be problematic. Procrastination is particularly troublesome for students, and according… Read More

A new study from the University of Michigan confirms the importance of curiosity in learning, suggesting that cultivating students’ curiosity from an early age can help reduce the otherwise harmful effects of poverty, improving math and reading scores in particular. During the study, published in Pediatric Research, Prachi Shah and her team found that students… Read More

By now most of us are aware that the quality of our learning depends on a number of different factors, some of which are easier to control than others. But the more we understand about why and how everyday things can affect our ability to commit new information to memory, the more effective our learning… Read More

How do we create a world free from gender-based discrimination? Start by raising children who respect one another as individuals and question the traditional roles they’re assigned as boys or girls. Educators are uniquely positioned to show students they have a choice when it comes to forming their own identity, and to highlight the many… Read More