Blogs

Eide, Fernette, Eide, Brock, "How Many Harvard / MIT Students Does It Take to Light a Lightbulb - Science Misconceptions", Eide Neurolearning Blog, March 29, 2010, <http://eideneurolearningblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-many-harvard-mit-students-does-it.html>, Accessed April 26, 2010

discussion about how the brain makes it easy for students to "sneak in a wrong idea that fits with a pre-existing schema (plausible) than a new idea that might be true, but is unexpected (implausible)" and how use of analogies can help prevent this... link to Minds of our Own science education documentaries (see Video section below)

Hollyn, Norman, "How We Learn and Why We Resist It", Hollyn-wood Blog, May 4, 2010, <http://normanhollyn.com/2010/05/04/how-we-learn-and-why-we-resist-it/>, Accessed May 4, 2010

interesting perspective on students' learning curves and students' learning when they NEED to learn not when we tell them something that we think is important for them to learn

Johnson, Doug, "When a good memory works against you", The Blue Skunk Blog, April 30, 2010, <http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2010/4/30/when-a-good-memory-works-against-you.html>, Accessed May 10, 2010

Interesting take on when relying on memory can be detrimental to your workplace performance ... relates it to current school expectations and methods

Editorials / News

Willingham, Daniel, "Helping students know what they don’t know", Washington Post, March 11, 2010, <http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/daniel-willingham/helping-students-know-what-the.html> Accessed March 16, 2010

knowing is ability to explain to others vs. understanding when explained by others ... have students articulate what they know either orally or in writing, making what they know and don't know explicit, easier to evaluate, and easier to build on or revise

Winkler, Claudia, "The Difference between Thinking and Knowing", The Weekly Standard, May 30, 2002, <http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/300cczpb.asp?ZoomFont=YES>, Accessed January 20, 2010

not all memorization is learning by rote (without thinking or understanding) ... memorization is usually contrasted with comprehension and critical thinking ... knowing things and thinking about things are NOT mutually exclusive

 Videos

Minds of Our Own, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for AstroPhysics, 1997, <http://www.learner.org/vod/vod_window.html?pid=76>, Accessed April 26, 2010

looks at misconceptions in teaching/learning science ... all students come with preconceived ideas about how things work and are reluctant to give up those ideas ... since it's so difficult (and emotionally taxing) to let go of ideas, the responsibility and ownership of the knowledge must be the student's otherwise they'll fall back to the preconceived ideas ... use hands-on and heads-on approach ... may not be able to cover as many topics, but the students will learn