The Learning Scientists Podcast

Episode 91: Executive Functioning in Special Education with Sean McCormick

Learning Scientists

This episode was funded by listeners like you. For more details on how to help support our podcast and gain access to exclusive content, please see our Patreon page.

Show Notes:

In Episode 91, Cindy talks with Sean McCormick, founder and Executive Director at EF Specialists. They discuss the research on executive functioning training, especially for neurodiverse students, and the degree to which it transfers to everyday life. In the episode, they mention several research studies, including:

1. Diamond, A. (2013). Executive functions. Annual Review of Psychology, 64(1), 135-168. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143750

2. Blair, C., & Razza, R. P. (2007). Relating effortful control, executive function, and false belief understanding to emerging math and literacy ability in kindergarten. Child Development, 78(2), 647-663. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01019.x

3. Melby-Lervåg, M., & Hulme, C. (2013). Is working memory training effective? A meta-analytic review. Developmental Psychology, 49(2), 270. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028228

For free resources, please visit efspecialists.com. 

Episode 90: Dual Coding-Can There Be Too Much of a Good Thing?

Learning Scientists

This episode was funded by listeners like you. For more details on how to help support our podcast and gain access to exclusive content, please see our Patreon page.

Show Notes:

In Episode 90, Megan reads her blog post Dual Coding: Can There be too Much of a Good Thing?

Episode 89: Who Should Create Study plans?

Learning Scientists

This episode was funded by listeners like you. For more details on how to help support our podcast and gain access to exclusive content, please see our Patreon page.

Show Notes:

For some of our podcast episodes, we are going to read blog posts, audiobook style. This allows listeners to access the written material from the blog in audio form, which we imagine may help some who don’t have much time for reading (but DO have time to listen in the car). It also allows us to bring some of our most interesting, important, and/or popular posts back into the spotlight.

Today’s episode is our first of this type! In Episode 89, Carolina reads her blog post Who should Create Study Plans?

Episode 88: Quick Podcast Updates and a Discussion About Multitasking

Learning Scientists

This episode was funded by listeners like you. For more details on how to help support our podcast and gain access to exclusive content, please see our Patreon page.

Show Notes:

In Episode 88, Megan, Cindy, Carolina, and Althea talk about the new direction of the Learning Scientists Podcast, and about multitasking!

We started this podcast a number of years ago, and over time the podcast has morphed and changed. We want to be really intentional about the podcast. To that end, we got together and talked about what we love about the podcast, things we want to do better, and some new ways to spread the science of learning to move people.

We’re going to have three types of podcast episodes:

1. Conversations with students and/or educators about their experiences with the science of learning. With these episodes, we’re really making space for our listeners to hear from others about their experiences while teaching and learning. Of course, in our conversations, we’ll still be talking about the science behind the concepts we’re talking about. These episodes can allow listeners to gain new perspectives, and can even serve as concrete examples of how the science of learning can be applied in various settings.

2. Bite-size research episodes. In these episodes, we’ll focus on peer-reviewed research. One or a few of us will talk through a research paper to bring the science to you, wherever you listen. These episodes may also include guests to talk about their peer-reviewed research on learning, or the research surrounding their area of expertise.

3. Audio-book versions of our blog posts. We know that some people prefer (or must, because of time constraints) listen rather than read. We have hundreds of great blog posts, and we want to bring that content to even more people. So, for some episodes, we will read our blog to create another format for that information to be shared.

If you’re interested in being a guest on our podcast, you can send us a pitch! Please fill out this form. If you’re an educator or student wanting to talk about your personal experiences with the science of learning, we especially want to encourage you to fill it out. Let us know that you’re a student/educator, and how you use the science of learning in your own teaching/learning.

We also talked about multitasking on the podcast, because we know that so many people multitask while listening (in the car, in the shower, while doing dishes, etc.).

We mentioned the Whodunnit video on the episode. You can watch the Whodunnit video here.

Below are some additional resources about mutlitasking from our blog:

• Multitasking and Selective Attention by Althea Need Kaminske

• Engagement and Interest by Althea Need Kaminske

• New Findings Inform the Laptop versus Longhand Note-Taking Debate by Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel

• Focus Tips for Students: How to Effectively Ignore Irrelevant Information, a guest post by Erin Miller

Episode 87: Executive Functioning Skills with Mitch Weathers

Learning Scientists

This episode was funded by listeners like you. For more details on how to help support our podcast and gain access to exclusive content, please see our Patreon page.

Show Notes:

In Episode 87, Cindy chats with Mitch Weathers, a veteran teacher and Founder and CEO of Organized Binder. Mitch discusses what exactly is meant by executive functioning, his own learning struggles as a student, and his many projects aimed at improving students’ executive functioning skills including his recently released book, Executive Functions for Every Classroom: Creating Safe and Equitable Learning Environments. 

Episode 86: EdTech and AI with Jared Cooney Horvath (Recorded Live from ResearchED)

Learning Scientists

This episode was funded by listeners like you. For more details on how to help support our podcast and gain access to exclusive content, please see our Patreon page.

Show Notes:

In episode 86, Cindy talks with Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath, neuroscientist, educator, and author of Stop Talking, Start Influencing: 12 Insights from Brain Science to Make Your Message Stick. In this episode, Jared reviews some of the history of technological advancements, how technology has impacted learning, and shares some of his ideas for how artificial intelligence may impact both learning and society moving forward. Jared is open to hearing your thoughts about the episode, which you can share by clicking here.

This episode was recorded in front of a live audience at a researchED event in Wilmington, DE (October, 2024).

Episode 85: Digital Literacy with Natalia Kucirkova

Learning Scientists

This episode was funded by listeners like you. For more details on how to help support our podcast and gain access to exclusive content, please see our Patreon page.

Show Notes:

In Episode 85, Megan talks with Natalia Kucirkova, PhD, a Professor of Early Childhood and Development at the University of Stavanger in Norway and Professor of Reading and Children’s Development at The Open University, UK. Natalia leads a network of learning scientists, WiKIT, who support diverse EdTech organizations to be more evidence-based and aligned with the science of learning. She is author of the open-access book, How and Why to Read and Create Children’s Digital Books: A Guide for Primary Practitioners and The Future of the Self: understanding Personalization in Childhood and Beyond.

Read more about Natalia and the impact of EdTech here.

Episode 84: An Evidence - Based Approach to Teaching Reading and Writing – An Interview with Dominic

Learning Scientists

This episode was funded by listeners like you. For more details on how to help support our podcast and gain access to exclusive content, please see our Patreon page.

Show Notes:

In Episode 84, Carolina talks to Dominic Wyse and Charlotte Hacking; the authors of the brand-new book “The Balancing Act: An Evidence-Based Approach to Teaching Phonics, Reading and Writing”. Together they explore the chapters of the book that takes a research-informed approach to teaching pupils how to read and write. The book also features scaffolding for teaching practice including complete lesson plans that can be used in the classroom right away! They also discuss what parents can do to support reading and writing skills in their children. The episode concludes with a range of practical tips.

Further resources for this episode:

• Get the book: “The Balancing Act: An Evidence-Based Approach to Teaching Phonics, Reading and Writing” by Dominic Wyse and Charlotte Hacking.

• Book press release: “Rigid Approach to Teaching Phonics is ‘Joyless’ and is Failing Children, Experts Warn”

• Open access paper: “Decoding, reading and writing: the double helix theory of teaching” by Dominic Wyse and Charlotte Hacking

• The Conversation: “Isolated phonics lessons aren’t working: Here’s a better way to teach young children to read and write” by Dominic Wyse

• The Guardian view on English lessons: Make classrooms more creative again (Editorial)   

• Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE): The books section on this website comes with concrete book suggestions to use in primary classrooms.

Episode 83: An Interview with We Do It For the Culture founder Jamila Sams

Learning Scientists

This episode was funded by listeners like you. For more details on how to help support our podcast and gain access to exclusive content, please see our Patreon page.

Show Notes:

In Episode 83, Althea interviews Jamila Sams, CEO and founder of We Do It For the Culture (TM), a culturally responsive social emotional learning curriculum rooted in Hip-Hop culture for middle and high school students. Jamila discusses the five components of social-emotional learning, hip-hop, and shares examples of how the curriculum has connected with students. To learn more go to https://wedoit4theculture.com/