Hello all! And welcome to a 'European edition' of my Memory and Metacognition updates. I am currently in the Czech Republic as part of a research trip, and in a few days I'll travel to Germany to present at a conference.The subject of my forthcoming conference talk – and the Czech research collaboration – is teacher burnout. If this seems quite distant from my usual research interests, then consider the following:There are many misconceptions and illusions about memory (as I wrote about in last week's issue).Teachers therefore need to engage in professional learning in order to understand how memory works.Professional learning is time-consuming, and teachers are busy......and so we need to understand how to promote professional learning in ways that won't lead to burnout.I will explore the interplay between these four points more in future newsletters. For now, suffice to say that we can't just ask teachers to do more professional learning without considering other factors!The good news is that many of the memory and metacognition tools that I have been discussing in this newsletter can actually save time.For example:Skilled application of the spacing effect can tackle forgetting, meaning that there is no need to re-teach material at a later date.We can cut out certain laborious practices (e.g. flawed types of homework) that have little or no impact on student learning.Evidence-based practice can in general lead to more secure understanding among students, and therefore less ad-hoc remediation.Overall, if we know how to ensure that learning sticks, this should save time, not add to it!An understanding of the science of learning can also help to put teachers in control rather than having their practice dictated by external authorities, as I argue in the chapter below (from the 2017 book, 'Flip the System: UK').
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Hello all! And welcome to a 'European edition' of my Memory and Metacognition updates. I am currently in the Czech Republic as part of a research trip, and in a few days I'll travel to Germany to present at a conference.The subject of my forthcoming conference talk – and the Czech research collaboration – is teacher burnout. If this seems quite distant from my usual research interests, then consider the following:There are many misconceptions and illusions about memory (as I wrote about in last week's issue).Teachers therefore need to engage in professional learning in order to understand how memory works.Professional learning is time-consuming, and teachers are busy......and so we need to understand how to promote professional learning in ways that won't lead to burnout.I will explore the interplay between these four points more in future newsletters. For now, suffice to say that we can't just ask teachers to do more professional learning without considering other factors!The good news is that many of the memory and metacognition tools that I have been discussing in this newsletter can actually save time.For example:Skilled application of the spacing effect can tackle forgetting, meaning that there is no need to re-teach material at a later date.We can cut out certain laborious practices (e.g. flawed types of homework) that have little or no impact on student learning.Evidence-based practice can in general lead to more secure understanding among students, and therefore less ad-hoc remediation.Overall, if we know how to ensure that learning sticks, this should save time, not add to it!An understanding of the science of learning can also help to put teachers in control rather than having their practice dictated by external authorities, as I argue in the chapter below (from the 2017 book, 'Flip the System: UK').