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Desirable Difficulties in Math Teaching
Continuing in the spirit of my last post, which overviewed the desirable difficulties literature, and Carole Yue’s recent post on how desirable difficulties can improve induction tasks, today I’m highlighting some recent research on applying such difficulties to math learning and practice. As a quick recap, desirable difficulties are adjustments to teaching that slow down…
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ADHD and Memory: Differences in What is Remembered
Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD (formerly known also as ADD) are classically seen as the kids in class who have trouble staying in their seats and paying attention during long lessons. Underlying these problematic behaviors is a confluence of factors, with evidence pointing to genetics, neural function, and environmental factors (including parenting…
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Synesthesia: When Ordinary Activities Trigger Extraordinary Sensations
Many of us have had the experience of unusual associations between our senses and our memories. Perhaps a certain smell unexpectedly reminds you of a grandparent, or certain foods evoke memories of old friends. Associations between memories and sensory experience are normal, but about 4% of the population experiences a condition called synesthesia in which…
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Desirable Difficulties in the Classroom
Over the last couple of decades, learning and memory researchers have become increasingly interested in bringing scientific findings out of the lab and into the classroom, where they can be implemented into teaching methods to produce more efficient and effective learning. In a nation mired in an educational crisis, there’s never been a better time…
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Is ADHD a real disorder?
Despite overwhelming scientific evidence that approximately 5 percent of children have a specific deficit in attention compared to children of their same age and sex, many people still question whether ADHD (and some still call it it’s former name: ADD) is a real disorder. A recent article in the New York Times takes on this…
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What Can Effect Sizes Do for You? A Quick Tutorial for a Deeper Understanding of Psychological Research
I listen to a lot of podcasts in which various psychological articles are often discussed (e.g., stuff you should know, radiolab, etc.). As a psychologist, I am often frustrated when a podcast mentions a study’s finding (e.g., having a sister is associated with better self-esteem than having a brother) but then says something like this:…
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Texts, Sex, and Media Freakouts
As I spent a few minutes this morning updating my Twitter, I was alarmed to see a post that a friend of mine had retweeted from The Atlantic: What’s that? Texting no longer only represents a way for teens to ignore their parents at the dinner table and run up the phone bill, it now…
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Childhood Sexual Assault: Impacts are broad, but not for all victims?
Psychologists often rely on grouping participants together based on shared characteristics (e.g., are girls better than boy in reading ability). The goal is to broadly understand the relationships between potential causes and effects, and, ideally learn from them. In the first example above, perhaps reading interventions targeting boys may be an effect if the study…