麻豆传媒入口

This past year didn鈥檛 feel normal, exactly, but compared with the last few trips around the sun, well鈥攊t sufficed. In 2021, when we sat down to write our annual edition of the research highlights, we were in the throes of postpandemic recovery and wrote about the impact of a grueling year in which burnout and issues of mental and physical health affected educators everywhere.

This year, we crossed our fingers and turned to best practices once again, reviewing hundreds of studies to identify the most impactful and insightful educational strategies we could find.

What turned up?

We found evidence that sheds new light on the misunderstood power of brain breaks, took a close look at research that finds a surprising鈥攅ven counterintuitive鈥攔ationale for teachers to focus on relationships, and located both the humor and the merit in asking kids to slither like a snake as they learn about the 鈥渟ss鈥� sound of the letter S.

All that, and a lot more too, in our once-a-year roundup that follows.

1. There鈥檚 No Conflict Between Relationships and Rigor

Observers sometimes assume that teachers who radiate empathy, kindness, and openness are 鈥渟oft鈥� and can be taken advantage of by students. But new research shows that when you signal that you care about kids, they鈥檙e willing to go the extra mile, giving you the flexibility to assign more challenging school work.

That鈥檚 the main takeaway from a that examined teaching practices in 285 districts, comparing relationship-building strategies with the flexibility that teachers had in assigning challenging and complex work. The researchers found that the most effective teachers build their classrooms by getting to know their students, being approachable, and showing that they enjoy the work鈥攁nd then deftly translate emotional capital into academic capital.

鈥淲hen students feel teachers care about them, they work harder, engage in more challenging academic activities, behave more appropriately for the school environment, are genuinely happy to see their teacher, and meet or exceed their teacher鈥檚 expectations,鈥� the researchers conclude.

2. Highlighting Isn鈥檛 Very Effective Until Teachers Step In

Students often highlight the wrong information and may rely on their deficient highlighting skills as a primary study strategy, leading to poor learning outcomes, a of 36 studies suggests. As little as two hours of tutoring, however, can dramatically improve their capabilities.

The researchers determined that 鈥渓earner-generated highlighting鈥� tended to improve retention of material, but not comprehension. When students were taught proper highlighting techniques by teachers, however鈥攆or example, how to distinguish main ideas from supporting ideas鈥攖hey dramatically improved their academic performance. Crucially, 鈥渨hen highlighting is used in conjunction with another learning strategy鈥� like 鈥済raphic organizers or post-questions,鈥� its effectiveness soars, the researchers said.

The need for explicit teaching may be linked to changing reading habits as students graduate from stories and fables to expository texts, which require them to navigate unfamiliar text formats, the researchers note. To bring kids up to speed, show them 鈥渆xamples of appropriate and inappropriate highlighting,鈥� teach them to 鈥渉ighlight content relatively sparingly,鈥� and provide examples of follow-on tactics like summarizing their insights to drive deeper comprehension.

3. A Landmark Study Strikes a Resounding Note for Inclusion

When the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act called for greater inclusion鈥攎andating that students with disabilities receive support in the 鈥渓east restrictive environment鈥濃�攐ne goal was to ensure that educational accommodations didn鈥檛 interfere with the students鈥� social and emotional development in classrooms full of their peers. The law also confronted age-old prejudices and established a binding legal obligation in favor of inclusion.

But thus far, rigorous evidence of the academic benefits has been thin.

Now a appears to put the matter beyond dispute. When researchers tracked nearly 24,000 adolescents who qualified for special education, they discovered that spending a majority of the day鈥攁t least 80 percent鈥攊n general education classes improved reading scores by a whopping 24 points and math scores by 18 points, compared with scores of their more isolated peers with similar disabilities.

鈥淭reat the general education classroom as the default classroom,鈥� the researchers firmly state, and push for separate accommodations only when all other options have been exhausted.

4. Sketchnotes and Concept Maps Work鈥擡ven Better Than You Might Think

Simple concept maps, sketchnotes, and other annotated jottings鈥攁kin to doodling with a purpose鈥攃an facilitate deeper comprehension of materials than more polished drawings, a finds.

Representational drawings, such as a simple diagram of a cell, may help students remember factual information, the researchers explain, but they 鈥渓ack features to make generalizations or inferences based on that information.鈥� Organizational drawings that link concepts with arrows, annotations, and other relational markings give students a clearer sense of the big picture, allow them to visualize how ideas are connected, and provide a method for spotting obvious gaps in their understanding. On tests of higher-order thinking, fifth graders who made organizational drawings outperformed their peers who tried representational drawings by 300 percent.

To reap the benefits in class, have students start with simple diagrams to help remember the material, and then move them up to sketchnotes and concept maps as they tease out connections to prior knowledge.

5. Brain Breaks Are Misunderstood (and Underutilized)

Conventional wisdom holds that the development of a skill comes from active, repeated practice: It鈥檚 the act of dribbling a basketball that ultimately teaches the basketball star.

But recent studies reveal that the intervals between practice sessions are at least as crucial. In 2021, to observe neural networks as young adults learned how to type. During breaks, the brains of the participants appeared to head back to the keyboards, unconsciously replaying the typing sequences over and over again at high rates of speed as they flipped the material between processing and memory centers dozens of times in the span of 10 seconds. The researchers concluded that brain breaks play 鈥渏ust as important a role as practice in learning a new skill.鈥�

In 2022, we learned that the kinds of breaks make a difference, too. compared in-classroom breaks like drawing or building puzzles with outdoor breaks like running or playing in sandboxes. In a nod to the power of movement鈥攁nd free time鈥攊t was the kids playing outside who returned to class ready to learn, probably because indoor games, like indoor voices, required children to engage in more self-regulation, the researchers speculated. Meanwhile, an 鈥攂rief strolls in a park or visits to a school garden鈥攃oncluded that students who partook in the activities performed better on tests of attention and working memory.

Depriving kids of regular breaks, it turns out, is a threat to the whole proposition of learning. To commit lessons to memory, the brain demands its own time鈥攚hich it sets aside to clean up and consolidate new material.

6. On Classroom Design, an Argument for Caution鈥攁nd Common Sense

When it comes time to decorate their classrooms, teachers often find themselves on the horns of a dilemma: Should they aim for Pinterest-worthy interior design or opt for blank walls on the strength of research that emphasizes the risks of distracting students?

A published in February this year argues for minimalism. Researchers tracked the on-task behavior of K鈥�2 students and concluded that visually 鈥漵treamlined鈥� classrooms produced more focused students than 鈥渄ecorated鈥� ones. During short read-alouds about topics like rainbows and plate tectonics, for example, young kids in classrooms free of 鈥渃harts, posters, and manipulatives鈥� were paying attention at significantly higher rates.

But it might not be a simple question of more or less. A confirmed that posters of women scientists or diverse historical figures, for example, can improve students鈥� sense of belonging. And a that observed 3,766 children in 153 schools concluded that classrooms that occupied a visual middle ground鈥攏either too cluttered nor too austere鈥攑roduced the best academic outcomes. A reached similar conclusions.

Classroom decoration can alter academic trajectories, the research suggests, but the task shouldn鈥檛 stress teachers out. The rules appear to be relatively straightforward: Hang academically relevant, supportive work on the walls, and avoid the extremes鈥攚orking within the broad constraints suggested by common sense and moderation.

7. For Young Children, the Power of Play-Based Learning

Children aren鈥檛 miniature adults, but a bias toward adult perspectives of childhood, with its attendant schedules and routines, has gradually exerted a stranglehold on our educational system nonetheless, suggests the author and early childhood educator Erika Christakis.

How can we let little kids be little while meeting the academic expectations of typical schools? A spanning several decades plots a middle path for educators, highlighting the way that play gently guided by adults, often called play-based learning, can satisfy both objectives.

Teachers of young students can have a 鈥渓earning goal鈥� in mind, but true play-based learning should incorporate wonder and exploration, be child-led when possible, and give students 鈥渇reedom and choice over their actions and play behavior,鈥� the researchers assert. Interrupt the flow of learning only when necessary: gently nudge students who might find activities too hard or too easy, for example. The playful approach improved early math and task-switching skills, compared with more traditional tactics that emphasize the explicit acquisition of skills, researchers concluded.

To get the pedagogy right, focus on relationships and ask questions that prompt wonder. 鈥淩ich, open-ended conversation is critical,鈥� Christakis told 麻豆传媒入口 in a 2019 interview鈥攃hildren need time "to converse with each other playfully, to tell a rambling story to an adult, to listen to high-quality literature and ask meaningful questions.鈥�

8. A Better Way to Learn Your ABCs

Getting young kids to match a letter to its corresponding sound is a first-order reading skill. To help students grasp that the letter c makes the plosive 鈥渃uh鈥� sound in car, teachers often use pictures as scaffolds or have children write the letter repeatedly while making its sound.

A suggests that sound-letter pairs are learned much more effectively when whole-body movements are integrated into lessons. Five- and 6-year-olds in the study spent eight weeks practicing movements for each letter of the alphabet, slithering like a snake as they hissed the sibilant 鈥渟ss鈥� sound, for example. The researchers found that whole-body movement improved students鈥� ability to recall letter-sound pairings and doubled their ability to recognize hard-to-learn sounds鈥攕uch as the difference between the sounds that c makes in cat and sauce鈥攚hen compared with students who simply wrote and spoke letter-sound pairings at their desks.

The approach can make a big difference in the acquisition of a life-changing skill. Educators should 鈥渋ncorporate movement-based teaching鈥� into their curricula, giving special consideration to 鈥渨hole-body movement,鈥� the researchers conclude.

9. Why Learners Push the Pause Button

Some of the benefits of videotaped lessons are so self-evident that they hide in plain sight.

When teaching students foundational concepts, a video lesson equipped with a simple pause button, for example, may allow students to reset cognitively as they reach their attentional limits, a concluded. Pause buttons, like rewind buttons, are also crucial for learners who encounter 鈥渃omplex learning materials,鈥� have 鈥渓ow prior knowledge,鈥� or exhibit 鈥渓ow working memory capacities.鈥�

Increasingly, the intrinsic value of targeted video lessons is borne out in research. In a feature on 麻豆传媒入口, we looked at research suggesting that video learning supported self-pacing and to lessons; that questions embedded in videos improved academic performance, increased note-taking, and reduced stress (see these and studies); and that video versions of lectures tended to 鈥渕ake 鈥� to students.

To modernize their classrooms, teachers might record their most important lessons and make them available to students as study aids so they can pause, rewind, and review to their hearts鈥� content.

10. An Authoritative Study of Two High-Impact Learning Strategies

Spacing and retrieval practices are two of the most effective ways to drive long-term retention, confirms an review spanning hundreds of studies on the topic鈥攁nd students should know how and why the strategies are effective.

In the review, researchers explain that students who prefer techniques like reading and rereading material in intense cram sessions are bound to fail. Instead, students should think of learning as a kind of 鈥渇itness routine鈥� during which they practice recalling the material from memory and space out their learning sessions over time. Teaching kids to self-quiz or summarize from memory鈥攁nd then try it again鈥攊s the crucial first step in disabusing students of their 鈥渇alse beliefs about learning.鈥�

The effect sizes are hard to ignore. In a , for example, third-grade students who studied a lesson about the sun and then reread the same material scored 53 percent on a follow-up test, the equivalent of a failing grade, while their peers who studied it once and then answered practice questions breezed by with an 87 percent score. And in a , middle school students who solved a dozen math problems spread out across three weeks scored 21 percentage points higher on a follow-up math test than students who solved all 12 problems on the same day.