Two Pint PLC

Grading always occurs in a social context. We’ll examine a study that measured how weight bias manifested when scoring writing samples. Work from overweight students was scored lower in some categories, but teachers believed bias was far less of an issue than their scoring revealed.

Later, we unpack research on the impact of subtle changes in prompting on participant success in a simple logic puzzle. The results show the importance of crafting assignments and assessments with a few essential elements.

Finally, we read commentary from an expert on helping research impact policy.

The push for data-driven instruction can sometimes feel at odds with empowering educators to exercise their professional judgement. We read the story of one Kansas district that attempted to implement a new system for helping students. A push for data and numbers seemed to push out all the other sources of information, undermining their ability to help those students.

Later, we see a nation-wide bump in ADHD diagnoses for the youngest students who start school each year. This bump might be the result of a school age cut-off, rather than anything medical.

Finally, we get some book recommendations and context on Third Culture Kids in the Peer Review.

In our increasingly globalized world, ever more students are growing up immersed in multiple cultures throughout their childhood. These children can become “third culture kids”, young people who identify with a hybrid culture that is distinct from any of the places they’ve lived. We consider how teachers can be sensitive to their experience and supportive in their journey.

Later, we’ll read about Statway - a redesigned program that helps students engage in productive struggle and earn collegiate math credit faster and more consistently than a typical remedial program. We find lessons from their implementation that can be useful in any classroom or institution.

Finally, we read from a Mixed Bag of listener mail that prompts us to think more about past discussions on feedback and change initiatives.

We drink Cast Iron, an oatmeal brown from 4 Hands Brewing in St. Louis, MO.

Every student deserves an equitable opportunity to learn in our classroom. Jennifer Pusateri joins us to share how her work with universal design for learning (UDL) helps remove barriers to learning for students. We re-examine our assumptions for how a classroom must run and find ways to provide options for each learner in our room.

Later, we debate how useful metadata can be for supporting student motivation. A new study suggests we have a new way to measure self-efficacy in mathematics, but how is that different from what we already observe in the classroom?

Finally, our Hot Off the Presses segment looks at how a new California law has banned suspensions for “willful defiance”.

We drink Gran Sport, a porter from Coop Ale Works in Oklahoma City, OK.

Research on growth mindset took the education world by storm in the 2000’s, prompting excitement and criticism. We read a large scale expansion of the growth mindset research that addresses some of the most common criticisms of past work and provides actionable guidance for classroom teachers.

Later, we look at how different forms of feedback can affect students’ ability to solve math problems on subsequent tests. Timely formative feedback is essential for student growth.

Finally, our Peer Review features a debrief of an email conversation with author Maria Garcia Alvarez. She addresses some of our questions from episode 029, and we find common ground together.

We drink Morning Island Blends, from Transport Brewery in Shawnee, KS.

Even young students can begin to understand abstract topics like quantum mechanics, if given the chance. Nahuel Acosta and Auriana Anderson join us to discuss their research related to delivering guest lessons on quantum mechanics in K-12 classrooms. We learn why teaching quantum mechanics concepts early is useful, what their research revealed about their students' growth, and how the experience affected them as pre-service teachers.

Later, we look at the connections (or lack of connections) between math anxiety and students' approximate number system (ANS). Previous work has suggested that underdeveloped skills in approximation may eventually lead to higher math anxiety... but that might not hold up in new studies.

Finally, our Hot Off the Presses segment looks at fresh news on how teachers fund their classrooms, and the role of crowdfunding services like Donors Choose.

Summer is a time for reflection and renewal of purpose. We pause from our usual analysis of research and news to reflect on the past year. We'll pull back the curtain on how and why we've made some of our show decisions this past year. We'll also wrestle with what we hope to do better next year.

We must balance teaching content knowledge and professional skills. Will Dunn joins as a guest host on an episode dedicated to exploring how we pursue this balance throughout educational practice. We start with a discussion of how we should situate competencies in standards.

Later, we read about the theory of embodied cognition. This theory emphasizes the importance of sensory experience, and we discuss how it impacts what students should see/feel/touch/smell/hear in our classroom.

Finally, Will brings the conversation around to assessment practices. We wrestle with what common assessments should (and shouldn’t) do.

We drink Shake, a chocolate porter from Boulder Beer Co in Boulder, CO.

Retrieval of information is a demanding cognitive process, and teachers must find instructional approaches that improve later retrieval of learned material. We discuss how different student experiences lead to varied success in retrieval, and how it might affect our choices for the experiences we provide in our classroom.

Later, we read an updated analysis of several major standardized tests in the United States. Errors in test administration and analysis led to some mistaken conclusions in the past, and leaves us with some important questions moving forward.

The Peer Review spotlights a listener-shared article on how teachers can avoid misunderstanding student contributions in class, which will lead to improved metacognition.

We drink Robust Porter, a coffee porter from Walnut River Brewing Company in El Dorado, KS.

Open Access Educational Resources (OERs) are an emerging alternative to traditional textbooks, but how do new technologies compare to traditional options? Dr. Virginia Clinton joins us to discuss her recent papers “Savings without sacrifice: a case report on open-source textbook adoption” and “Reading from paper compared to screens: A systematic review and meta‐analysis”.

Later, we read a study that examined what kinds of supports teachers in high-achieving classrooms provide for student metacognition. We find ways to get more out of our interactions with students by explicitly supporting how they think about their learning.

We drink Rye on Rye, a barrel-aged rye ale from Boulevard Brewing Company in Kansas City, MO.