Deep and Durable Learning
Episodes
73 episodes
Learning Despite Schooling
Children are all born learners—at least until they go to school. Many children and their parents are frustrated and mystified by the setbacks that are experienced at school and it doesn't need to be this way! This is the first episode of...
Is That a Fact?
Most schools design curriculum around a fact forward approach. Facts are always in the foreground while ideas lurk in the background and generally make only cameo appearances. This is exactly wrong. The role of facts is to support ideas....
I Can't Remember
Many parents and children view their inability to memorize as their greatest educational weakness. Learning is more than remembering, but it is not less. Today's episode centers on the reality that durable memory is the byproduct of thinking ab...
Constructing Ideas or Collecting Information?
How can you help your child move from being absorbed with taking in information in the classroom to a fixation on understanding ideas? This is key to durable learning that is extensible; learning that you can build on and apply to solving real ...
Mind-full Repetition
"Drill and kill," the mindless and seemingly endless repetition of facts, kills motivation to learn. "Repetition aids learning" is only true with carefully crafted variety in the repetition. "Extended practice" is a better way to approach the n...
I Can Figure It Out!
The cognitive power tools of the well-taught beginner create increasingly useful knowledge as the learner's skill level increases through practice that challenges plateaus. This episode makes the case that learning should always be embedded in ...
Not My Style
The myth of learning styles is a hindrance to deep and durable learning. It plays right into the myth of learning as mere retrieval. While we have individual preferences about the sensory channels we like information to be delivered over, the n...
It All Adds Up
I summarize my 10 principles of learning. These principles respect the way God designed the brain to learn. That framework moves from questions that pique our curiosity and motivate exploration of the concrete. This exploration is a search for ...
Science Sleuth or Cynic?
Daniel L. Smith, Professor of Nutrition Sciences, is a self-professed skeptic about nutritional science. He takes us on a journey through how science works and helps differentiate healthy skepticism (aka critical thinking) from corrupting cynic...
Drinking: What Are You Thinking?
What does wisdom say about beverage alcohol consumption? I cut through the cultural cachet of alcohol and look objectively at its documented effects on the human body.
Failure to Launch: Discipleship Endangered
Discipleship is more than a targeted learning process, but it is not less. Deep and durable learning of scripture results in personal transformation, but most churches follow a flawed process. Join me as I consider the discipleship gap and how ...
Discipleship Targets Polarization
Transformational discipleship is redundant. Discipleship is intrinsically transformation into increasing Christlikeness. This is a case study of Ephesians that speaks with biblical authority to the current polarization within the church.
Poles Apart in the Church?
The church is not immune to polarity that all too often leads to contention and division—the opposite of biblical unity. This study in Ephesians aims to transform your understanding of the nature of biblical unity and its priority in the life o...
Read the Whole Bible Every Year?
Attempting to read the Bible through each year is a source of frustration and guilt to many as they repeatedly fall behind their reading schedule. Is this yearly ritual a spiritual discipline that advances discipleship or does it substitute a f...
Preschool Pedagogy is Primary
No one wants to kill the joy of learning in a young child, but that's likely with the majority of preschool and elementary pedagogies. This podcast helps you sort through the educational philosophy underlying some major options.
Wise Worldview Formation
Worldview is the key grid through which we filter and formulate ideas, yet it is not systematically developed in most educational programs. This is particularly likely on the university level. Make no mistake—a worldview is being developed anyw...
Essentials of Learning
Pediatrician & internal medicine practioner, teacher of medical residents, and homeschool mom, Dr. Joy Smith reflects on an early experience of transformative learning and distills from it timeless principles of lasting learning.
Learning by Heart is Not Mere Memorization
Cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Nathan Smith, as a college sophomore experienced the liberation that comes with transformational learning. In this podcast he explains how a focus on understanding and deep learning informs his Christian faith as wel...
Growing Through Infertility and Loss
Dr. Valerie Coffman shares her personal struggles with infertility and loss and reflects on the opportunities for growth through profound disppointment.
Healthcare Is Its Own Worst Enemy
Healthcare is better at treating disease than at creating and maintaining health. Dr. Daniel Hindman of the Johns Hopkins hospital system argues that medical professionals fail to grapple with the real determinants of patient health. Healthcare...
Ideals Collide With Identity
Ideals are commendable but how we implement ideals can corrupt our true identity. Susanna Hindman shares her story of life in a disadvantaged community in West Baltimore, Maryland.
Discerning Your Calling
Vocation should not be chosen pragmatically based merely on opportunity. Vocation is literally a calling to use your unique giftedness for the glory of God. Dr. Scott Whitmore, a researcher in retinal diseases, shares his wrestling to discern G...
Questioning Your Way to Vocational Clarity
Many people feel stuck in their careers. At the root this is because they lack clarity about who they are and what they were made to do. Clarity emerges on the heels of questioning your erroneous assumptions about vocation.