麻豆传媒入口

Not every learning myth requires teachers to pull up stakes and start all over again鈥攁t least not entirely. There are some commonly held misconceptions that contain a nugget of wisdom but need to be tweaked in order to align with the science of learning.

Sometimes, in other words, you鈥檙e already halfway there. Here are five mostly myths, from the power of doodling to the motivating role of grades, that educators can quickly adjust and turn to their advantage.

1. Doodling Improves Focus and Learning

When we write about the power of drawing to learn, we often hear from readers who feel compelled to defend an old habit: 鈥淪ee, I told you that when I was doodling, I was still paying attention!鈥� But doodling鈥攚hich is commonly defined as 鈥渁n aimless or casual scribble or sketch鈥� and often consists of marginalia like cartoon characters, geometric patterns, or pastoral scenes鈥攊s distinct from what researchers call 鈥渢ask-related drawing.鈥� And doodling, in this sense, is not associated with improvements in focus or academic outcomes.

In fact, both cognitive load theory and experimental studies are generally downbeat on doodling. Students who sketch complicated scenes or designs as they try to process a lesson on plate tectonics, according to the first theory, are engaging in competitive cognitive tasks and will generally underperform on both. Doodling, like all drawing, is cognitively intensive, involving complex feedback loops between visual, sensorimotor, attentional, and planning regions of the brain and body. Because our ability to process information is finite, drawing and learning about different things at the same time is a simple question of too much.

Research confirms the theory. A pitted off-task doodling against typical learning activities like 鈥渢ask-related drawing鈥� and writing. In three separate but related experiments, task-related drawing and writing beat out doodling in terms of recall鈥攂y margins as large as 300 percent.

How to fix it: Sketching what you are actually learning鈥攆rom representational drawings of cells or tectonic boundaries to the creation of concept maps and organizational drawings鈥攊s, in fact, a powerful learning strategy (see research , , and ), and that applies 鈥渞egardless of one鈥檚 artistic talent,鈥� a confirms.

Try to harness a student鈥檚 passion for doodling by allowing them to submit academic sketches as work products. To get even more bang for your buck, ask them to annotate their drawings, or talk you through them鈥攚hich will encode learning even more deeply, .

2. Reading Aloud In Turn Improves Fluency

Often called round robin reading (RRR), I resorted to it when I taught years ago鈥攁nd it appears that it鈥檚 still frequently used, judging from a by literacy expert Timothy Shanahan and comments on a on the topic.

Teachers deploy RRR鈥攄uring which the whole class follows a text while students read sections consecutively鈥攆or good reasons: Arguably, the practice encourages student engagement, gives teachers the opportunity to gauge oral reading fluency, and has a built-in classroom management benefit as well. Students are generally silent and (superficially) attentive when a peer is reading.

But according to Shanahan, and the literacy professors Katherine Hilden and Jennifer Jones, the practice has long been frowned upon. In an , Hilden and Jones cut straight to the point: 鈥淲e know of no research evidence that supports the claim that RRR actually contributes to students becoming better readers, either in terms of their fluency or comprehension.鈥�

In fact, RRR has plenty of problems. Individual students using RRR may accumulate less than three hours of oral reading time over the course of a year, according to Shanahan鈥攁nd Hilden and Jones say that students who are following along during the activity tend to 鈥渟ubvocalize鈥� as they track the reader, reducing their own internal reading speed unnecessarily. RRR also has the unfortunate effects of stigmatizing struggling readers, exposing new readers to dysfluent modeling, and failing to incorporate meaningful comprehension strategies.聽

How to fix it: Yes, reading out loud is necessary to teach fluency, according to Shanahan, but there are better methods. Pairing kids together to 鈥渞ead sections of the text aloud to each other (partner reading) and then discuss and answer your questions鈥� is a good approach, he says, especially if teachers circulate to listen for problems.聽

More generally, reading strategies that model proper reading speed, pronunciation, and affect鈥攚hile providing time for vocabulary review, repeated exposure to the text, and opportunities to summarize and discuss鈥攃an improve both fluency and comprehension.

A, for example, demonstrated that combining choral reading鈥攖eachers and students read a text in unison (similar to )鈥攚ith other activities like vocabulary review, teacher modeling, and follow-up discussion improved students鈥� decoding and fluency.

3. Talent Beats Persistence

It鈥檚 a common trap: Observers tend to rate people who appear to be naturally gifted at something more highly than those who admit they鈥檝e worked hard to achieve success. Researchers call this the 鈥�,鈥� and it shows up everywhere, from teachers evaluating students to bosses evaluating employees.

In reality, the opposite is more often true. 鈥淧opular lore tells us that genius is born, not made,鈥� writes psychologist and widely cited researcher of human potential K. Anders Ericsson . 鈥淪cientific research, on the other hand, reveals that true expertise is mainly the product of years of intense practice and dedicated coaching.鈥�

Experimental studies extend the point to academics: An influential led by psychologists Brian Galla and Angela Duckworth, for example, found that high school GPA is a better predictor than the SAT of how likely students are to complete college on time. That鈥檚 because 鈥済rades are a very good index of your self-regulation鈥攜our ability to stick with things, your ability to regulate your impulses, your ability to delay gratification and work hard instead of goofing off,鈥� said Duckworth in a 2020 interview with 麻豆传媒入口.

How to fix it: All kids鈥攅ven the ones who already excel in a discipline鈥攂enefit when teachers emphasize the importance of effort, perseverance, and growth. Consider praising students for their improvement instead of their raw scores; have students read about and then discuss the idea of neural plasticity; and consider assigning reports on the mistakes and growing pains of accomplished writers, scientists, and artists.

Try to incorporate rough-draft thinking in class, and think about taking risks yourself: The renowned writing teacher Kelly Gallagher, author of Readicide, regularly composes in front of his class to model his own tolerance for errors and redrafting.

4. Background Music (Always) Undermines Learning

It鈥檚 a fascinating and complex question: Can students successfully learn while background music is playing?

In some cases, it appears, background music can be a neutral to positive influence; in other scenarios, it鈥檚 clearly distracting. There are several factors at play in determining the outcomes.

A clarifies that because music and language use some of the same neural circuitry鈥攁 finding that appears 鈥斺�渓istening to lyrics of a familiar language may rely on the same cognitive resources as vocabulary learning,鈥� and that can 鈥渓ead to an overload of processing capacity and thus to an interference effect.鈥� Other features of the music probably matter, too: Dramatic changes in a song鈥檚 rhythm, for example, or transitions from often force the learning brain to reckon with irrelevant information. A confirms the general finding: Across 65 studies, background music consistently had a 鈥渟mall but reliably detrimental effect鈥� on reading comprehension.

In some cases, however, music may aid learning. that catchy melodies, for example, can boost a student鈥檚 mood鈥攚hich might lead to significant positive effects on learning when motivation and concentration are paramount, a found.

How to fix it: Basically, 鈥渕usic has two effects simultaneously that conflict with one another,鈥� cognitive psychologist Daniel Willingham told 麻豆传媒入口 in 2023鈥攐ne distracting and the other arousing.

鈥淚f you鈥檙e doing work that鈥檚 not very demanding, having music on is probably fine鈥濃�攁nd likely to motivate students to keep going, . In those cases, try to stick to music that鈥檚 instrumental or familiar, in order to decrease the cognitive resources needed to process it. 鈥淏ut if you鈥檙e doing work that鈥檚 just somewhat difficult, the distraction is probably going to make music a negative overall,鈥� Willingham adds.

5. Grades Are Motivating

Teachers are well aware that grading, as a system, has many flaws鈥攂ut at least grades motivate students to try their hardest, right? Unfortunately, the research suggests that that鈥檚 largely not the case.

鈥淒espite the conventional wisdom in education, grades don鈥檛 motivate students to do their best work, nor do they lead to better learning or performance,鈥� write motivation researcher Chris Hulleman and science teacher Ian Kelleher in an article for 麻豆传媒入口. A , meanwhile, revealed that when confronted by grades, written feedback, or nothing at all鈥攕tudents preferred the latter two to grades, suggesting that A鈥揊 rankings might actually have a net negative impact on motivation.

In another blow to grades, a of university policies like pass/fail grading or narrative evaluations concluded that 鈥済rades enhanced anxiety and avoidance of challenging courses鈥� but didn鈥檛 improve student motivation. Providing students with specific, actionable feedback, on the other hand, 鈥減romot[ed] trust between instructors and students,鈥� leading to greater academic ambition.

How to fix it: While grades are still mandatory in most schools鈥攁nd some form of rigorous assessment remains an imperative鈥攅ducators might consider ways to de-emphasize them.

Some teachers choose to drop every student鈥檚 lowest grade, for example; allow students to retake a limited number of assessments each unit; or periodically give students the discretion to turn in 鈥渢heir best work鈥� from a series of related assignments.聽

At King Middle School, in Portland, Maine, educators delay their release of grades until the end of the unit, an approach backed by a that found that delayed grading鈥攈anding back personalized feedback days before releasing number or letter grades鈥攃an boost student performance on future assignments by two-thirds of a letter grade.