Find all other episodes of Teacher Ollie's Takeaways here, find it on iTunes here, or on your favourite podcasting app by searching ‘Teacher Ollie's Takeaways'. You may also like to check out Ollie's other podcast, the Education Research Reading Room, here. 

Show Notes

A Student tries out effective learning strategies

GUEST POST: A Student Tries out the Six Strategies for Effective Learning https://t.co/vLfL7jy4MSpic.twitter.com/t9WKARpIjF

— Robot Ollie (@OllieAutoEd) January 19, 2017

Original Author,Syeda Nizami

The Strategies: Spaced Practice, Retrieval Practice, Elaboration, Interleaving, Concrete Examples, Dual Coding

“Overall, each of the six strategies had their strengths and weaknesses, and it somewhat depends on which method is preferable to you, but I think the two that are truly essential are retrieval practice and spacing. Retrieval practice was and is my preferred way of studying for a quiz or exam, but this experience made me realize how truly useful it is. To be perfectly honest, spacing was a strategy I had never tried out before, even though teachers had always stressed that cramming wasn’t effective.”

Edu Podcasts for Kids (or for inspiration!)

Wow, exciting from @cultofpedagogy. Ed Podcasts for kids https://t.co/NPiJNUbxtk

— Oliver Lovell (@ollie_lovell) January 22, 2017

The Show about Science: This science interview show is hosted by 6-year-old Nate, and while it has some serious science chops, it’s also just plain adorable. Nate talks to scientists about everything from alligators to radiation to vultures, in his distinctly original interviewing style.

Episode on Ants! Nate's first interview : )

Are laptops and tablets a help or a hindrance to note taking?

The Impact of Computer Usage on Academic Performance: Evidence from a Randomized Trial at the United States Military Academy (Carter, Greenberg and Walker, 2016)

We present findings from a study that prohibited computer devices in randomly selected classrooms of an introductory economics course at the United States Military Academy. Average final exam scores among students assigned to classrooms that allowed computers were 18 percent of a standard deviation lower than exam scores of students in classrooms that prohibited computers. Through the use of two separate treatment arms, we uncover evidence that this negative effect occurs in classrooms where laptops and tablets are permitted without restriction and in classrooms where students are only permitted to use tablets that must remain flat on the desk surface.

Humans can’t multitask https://t.co/rgGgxLjgHP

— David Didau (@DavidDidau) January 23, 2017

One of the highlights of my day at researchED Amsterdam was hearing Paul Kirschner speak about edu-myths. He began his presentation by forbidding the use of laptops or mobile phones, explaining  that taking notes electronically leads to poorer recall than handwritten notes. The benefits of handwritten over typed notes include better immediate recall as well as improved retention after 2 weeks. In addition, students who take handwritten notes are more like to remember facts but also to have better future understanding of the topic. Fascinatingly, it doesn’t even matter whether you ever look at these notes – the simple act of making them appears to be beneficial.

. @DavidDidau tyranny of the 140 characters! See attached. Wld love ur thoughts. ps: I enjoyed your recent post on reading 4 betterment : ) pic.twitter.com/0y0jhqJHIs

— Oliver Lovell (@ollie_lovell) January 26, 2017

The rise of Randomised Controlled Trials

Reviewing the evidence shows smaller effect sizes but programmes that replicate in randomised controlled trials: https://t.co/l7xJIt6zbh

— Harry Fletcher-Wood (@HFletcherWood) January 23, 2017

Original article by Robert Slavin, told us about reciprocal teaching effects in TOT001.

reports of rigorous research are appearing very, very fast. In our secondary reading review, there were 64 studies that met our very stringent standards. 55 of these used random assignment, and even the 9 quasi-experiments all specified assignment to experimental or control conditions in advance. We eliminated all researcher-made measures. But the most interesting fact is that of the 64 studies, 19 had publication or report dates of 2015 or 2016.

In a recent review I did with my colleague Alan Cheung, we found that the mean effect size for large, randomized experiments across all of elementary and second reading, math, and science is only +0.13, much smaller than effect sizes from smaller studies and from quasi-experiments. However, unlike small and quasi-experimental studies, rigorous experiments using standardized outcome measures replicate. These effect sizes may not be enormous, but you can take them to the bank.

One might well argue that the SIM findings are depressing, because the effect sizes were quite modest (though usually statistically significant). This may be true, but once we can replicate meaningful impacts, we can also start to make solid improvements. Replication is the hallmark of a mature science, and we are getting there. If we know how to replicate our findings, then the developers of SIM and many other programs can create better and better programs over time with confidence that once designed and thoughtfully implemented, better programs will reliably produce better outcomes, as measured in large, randomized experiments. This means a lot.

Replication is the hallmark of a mature science, and we're getting there.'

A nice quote to end on

1/2: When kids receive grades AND comments, 1st thing they look at is the grade; 2nd thing they look at is…someone else’s grade -D William

— Alfie Kohn (@alfiekohn) January 19, 2017