The EduGals Podcast
How To Get Students Thinking - E110
Info
The EduGals Podcast
How To Get Students Thinking - E110
Jan 17, 2023 Episode 110
Rachel Johnson, Katie Attwell

This week, we are starting a new book talk series! We are chatting about our learning and reflections on chapter 1 from Daniel Willingham's book, Why Don't Students Like School? There are lots of great brain-based and scientifically-backed ideas for your classroom in this book! 

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!

We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!

Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/110**

  • Why Don't Students Like School by Daniel Willingham
  • More Info about Daniel Willingham (cognitive scientist)
  • Chapter 1: Why Don't Students Like School
  • Guiding principle: "people are naturally curious, but we are not naturally good thinkers; unless the cognitive conditions are right, we will avoid thinking"
  • We mostly do things on auto-pilot and relies on our memory; very little is true thinking
  • What is thinking? It is taking information from the environment and long-term memory (facts and procedures) and bringing them together into working memory to combine the ideas in new ways
  • Thinking tasks need to be challenging enough to engage but not so challenging that it causes frustration
  • Connections to Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics by Peter Liljedahl
  • Differentiation, mastery-based learning = engagement!
  • Gaps in background knowledge (facts and procedures) can limit engagement in thinking tasks
  • Background knowledge is key - Googling takes way too long and distracts from the problem-solving process
  • Implications for the classroom:
    • Be sure that there are problems to be solved
    • Respect students' cognitive limits
    • Clarifying the problems to be solved
    • Reconsider when to puzzle students
    • Accept and act on variation in student preparation
    • Change the pace
    • Keep a diary

Support the Show.

Connect with EduGals:

Share