Only Boring People

Dr. Shana Carpenter is a Professor in the School of Psychological Science at Oregon State University and has extensive research on best retrieval practices.

Andrew Butler is an Associate Professor of Education and Psychological & Brain Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. Butler's research focuses on how the process of retrieving memories affects the content and phenomenological characteristics of those memories. We talked about his undergrad, dissertation, and research experiences, and then transitioned into the tension between desirable difficulty and retrieval accuracy and success.

Mark A. McDaniel is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Integrative Research on Cognition, Learning, and Education (CIRCLE) at Washington University in St. Louis. We discussed his 2014 publication, Make It Stick, and the principles, research, and tactics that appear in the book. I shared with him some of my classroom experiences with these techniques and Mark offered some feedback and advice.

Dr. Peter Liljedahl is a professor at Simon Fraser University and a renowned mathematics education researcher. His book “Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics” presents over 15 years of research on… essentially, getting students to do more thinking. It’s a fascinating read and I was really honored that he took the time to speak with me.

Strother Purdy is the founder of Beloved Old Tree, the author of a fascinating blog, and the author of three books which can all be found here. This is his second time on the show and it is my distinct honor to welcome him back. 

Without further introduction, I give you Mr. Strother Purdy.

Dr. Jodi Magness is a Classical and Biblical archaeologist specializing in ancient Palestine (modern Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories) from the time of Jesus up to the tenth century. Her research interests include Jerusalem, Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient synagogues, Masada, the Roman army in the East, ancient pottery, the Byzantine-early Islamic transition, and Diaspora Judaism in the Roman world.

Without further introduction, I give you Dr. Jodi Magness.
To follow her upcoming work, please visit the dig’s website.

Dr. Lisa Schrenk is a Professor of Architectural History at the University of Arizona’s College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture. She is the author of multiple books, including The Oak Park Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright; and she is the co-founder of the global Institute for the Study of International Expositions (ISIE).

Without further introduction, I give you Dr. Lisa Schrenk.

Dr. Steven Weitzman is a scholar in the department of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania and his research specializes in the Hebrew Bible, ancient Judaism and the origins of Jewish culture— and it is my pleasure to invite him back to the show.

Without further introduction, I give you Dr. Steven Weitzman.

Dr. Sarah Fine is an educator, ethnographer, and the co-author of In Search of Deeper Learning: The Quest to Remake the American High School. She currently directs the High Tech High Graduate School of Education’s Teaching Apprenticeship Program and also serves as a Lecturer in Education Studies at the University of California San Diego.

Dr. Jal Mehta is a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He has written extensively on what it would take to improve American education, with a particular focus on the professionalization of teaching.

Jal is the author of several books and publications, including… In Search of Deeper Learning, a contemporary study of schools, systems, and nations that are seeking to produce ambitious instruction which he co-authored with Dr. Sarah Fine.

In addition, Dr. Mehta produces a podcast with Rod Allen called Free Range Humans.

Without further introduction, I give you Jal Mehta.