Understanding emotions, learners and achievement
Collaborative learning can be described as two or more learners actively pursuing and contributing to a shared goal, or trying to share the effort required to reach that goal. It has become a mainstay of educational practice. During my time as a teacher there was always an expectation that most lessons would involve some elementContinue reading Collaborative learning and Cognitive load
Adapted from Chapter 10 (Control) of Becoming Buoyant, now available. Control, within an academic environment, refers to the belief that students are able to control their own academic outcomes. Control in this context doesn’t refer to students ability to dictate their own learning (such as choosing activities), but rather, to be the vehicles of theirContinue reading Attribution Theory and Learning
You may have heard the terms progressive and traditional used within educational discourse. They represent two distinct schools of thought that encompass both the theory and practice of teaching, each with their own unique features and often polarising views based around the underlying purpose of education. On some level these distinctions create a rift thatContinue reading What’s that all about? Prog vs. Trad
The term non-cognitive skills has become increasingly prevalent within education over the past few years. But what do we actually mean by non-cognitive, how do these skills differ from cognitive ones and is any aspect of learning truly non-cognitive anyway? The roots of non-cognitive skills lie in the writings of sociologists Samuel Bowles and HerbertContinue reading What are non-cognitive skills?
What does binge-watching the latest Netflix addition have to do with teaching and learning? Over the past couple of years, I’ve noticed a curious phenomenon. Initially, I put it down to the inevitable slow decline of my cognitive functions as I age, but being the curious kind of person I am (and not being entirelyContinue reading Netflix, binge-watching & the spacing effect
Have you ever found yourself struggling to recollect a particular word or the name of a specific person? You know that you know it, but you can’t find the word, so to speak? The word is on the tip of your tongue. This tip of the tongue phenomenon is quite common. You might be attemptingContinue reading Using Cues to Enhance Recall
Procrastination can be viewed as an emotionally driven response related to our concept of self. Negative emotions arise because we might feel that the task we are putting off simply represents something that we aren’t prepared to handle. We might think of the task as being too difficult or the prospect of failure being tooContinue reading Procrastination: Some causes and cures
The roots of Self-efficacy lie in the work of Canadian social psychologist Albert Bandura and his social-cognitive theory of behaviour. Bandura defines self-efficacy as ‘beliefs in one’s capabilities to organise and execute the causes of action required to produce given attainment’ (Bandura, 1977). Originally applied to clinical settings, interest in self-efficacy has spread to otherContinue reading A Self-efficacy Primer
Attribution theory is a psychological concept about how people explain the causes of an event or behaviour.
Target grades have always been one of my great education bugbear’s, both as a teacher and as a parent. As a teacher, I have also found them to be just as restricting as they are motivating.
The Emotional Learner 