Memorising facts isn't enough. But metacognition can change students' approach to learning

I am a big believer in using researched and proven learning strategies to improve retention of classroom material. I have applied strategies in my high school advanced placement psychology classes and have seen notable improvements in test scores, study habits and students' understanding of their learning. Improvement in test scores is importa...

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​A guide to optimism and how to develop it among your students (hint: it's got nothing to do with how full your glass is)

Optimism: it's all about whether the glass half full or half empty, right? Wrong. It turns out that most people have the wrong idea of optimism. So what exactly is it? How important is it? And, most crucially, can you learn to be optimistic? Let's start with a quick test. You can choose only one answer per question. 1) You get lost driving to a fri...

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Research round-up: exploring the attainment gap in science

Literacy is one of the most influential factors in students' attainment in science, according to a recent report from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). This is just one of the interesting findings that researchers from Oxford University and the Department for Education discovered in their large-scale data analysis of science education. The ...

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What we learned about education from the Labour and Conservative Party conferences

Conference season has come to an end for another year, with politicians stepping down from their podiums and getting back to the business of running the country. There were bold statements from both Labour and the Conservatives – including rent control and an energy price cap, respectively – but what did we learn about the parties' plans for the fu...

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Life goes on, students come and go – but some things stick

This week I did something that I probably wasn't supposed to: I looked up some of my old students on Facebook. I would never add students or chat with them on social media – despite requests popping up all over the place – but in a moment of procrastination, curiosity got the better of me. So I took a look. I left that school (my first) three years...

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