Every Action has a Beginning

School has a definite beginning and a definite end. Students and teachers know when school starts and when it ends.

This study looks at how important beginnings and endings are in learning. Researchers disrupted neural activity in rats similar to what those who suffer from Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases experience. This impaired the rat’s ability to complete tasks. Interrupting ones ability know when a task starts and ends is disruptive to learning.

Application
Teachers should ensure students know when a learning task is started and when it ends. This can be done with a timer or with a visual cue; such as a sign or even lights.

Use Music for Better Learning

Students listen to music daily. They share music with their friends and talk about what they are listening to. Music plays an important role in students life, it also has the potential to help their learning.

This review of music research looks at the role of music in learning. It examined several different studies that all deal with music and learning. One study found that music enhances neuroplasticity priming the brain for other learning.

Another study found that music training teaches how to pick out sounds. This helps the learner understand better how to pick out what is most important. There was a study that shows how music helps students with attention problems hear speech better over background noise. This review shows how music training improves learning in many areas.

Application
Some training with music or the use of training to help focus student learning. Teachers could enlist their schools music teacher to help them integrate music into their curriculum. This would give them exposure to curriculum and music training.

Language and Learning Science

Students in an English classroom read novels, poems, and plays. They do not often read science texts because most English texts focus on fiction.

This study looked at the problems students have with reading science texts. There is a disconnect between understanding in English class and understanding in Science class. The problem lies in the vocabulary.

The vocabulary and sentence structure of a novel is different from that of a science article. The researchers used Word Genereation to help bridge that gap. This program inserts scientific vocabulary into high interest texts.

This program gives students the opportunity to learn vocabulary that they would not normally read. This gives them the opportunity to learn the vocabulary in an organic way.

Application
Word Generation is available for free to schools. Teachers could also make a more concerted effort to teach students how to read science texts. By creating texts that contain science vocabulary.

Investing in Homework

Students across the nation are trying to avoid homework right now. They are tired after a long day at school and want nothing more than to do nothing.

A study has shown us how to motivate students to do their homework. The researchers took two group of students. One group they explained the financial benefits of a job that required education; such as a doctor or lawyer. To the other group they focused on jobs that did not require any education. The teachers for both groups then gave the students an extra credit homework assignment. The group that had heard the presentation about the benefits of an education had more students complete the assignment.

This shows that students will do homework if they see it as an investment in their future. They have to connect completing homework with better grades and better grades with a better job. No small task.

Application
As a teacher we should always try to give students a reason for learning. In the case of homework they need motivation to complete the work on their own. We should tell our students about the benefits of an education and explain how homework and school in general will benefit them.

Know What You Know to Learn Better

Teachers waste a great deal of time going over material that a student already knows. We pound information into our student’s head hoping that something will stick.

This study looks at some ways that students can learn better. The focus of this study was “metacomprehension”. The researchers were looking for techniques that would help learners understand their own learning.

One technique they found was that summarizing text helps them understand what they have learned from the text. Another example is to recall ideas from the text and then compare those results with the right answer.

For students to employ these techniques they have to be more active in their learning. The majority of students I know treat education like a one way street. They sit expending as little effort as possible and often blame others when they do not learn.

Application
Student could review their learning everyday in a journal. They could be given a list of skills and told to define them with examples. You could also use the techniques that the study itself suggests.

Positive Behavior Over Time

There have been studies that look at behavior programs, and shown their benefits. We know that students benefit from the use of programs that help teach students social and behavioral skills.

This study looked at School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) in a number of schools over five years, and compared it to schools that did not use SWPBIS. They schools who did not use SWPBIS did use other programs, but they were not as all encompassing as SWPBIS. The researchers found that the schools using SWPBIS showed significant improvements in behavior and learning.

Two points were made about the programs; they were school wide and lasted for five years. Programs like this are most effective when everyone supports them and when they are repeated every year. The two are connected. When a school uses a program over a number of years the teachers get behind it. Unfortunately most schools do not stick with any program either from lack of money or leadership.

Application
The school needs to focus as one on a program like this. It is not enough for one teacher to teach the students about behavior and social situations. The training needs to be school wide and last longer than a year. Difficult to do if you are the not the principal.

Testing for Memories

I have looked at how testing can improve learning before. This study looks at why testing improves learning. It seeks to understand what it is we do when we take a test.

Researchers used learning a foreign language for their study. They found that to learn the word in another language the participants would use word associations. The act of taking a test forced them to create better word associations.

We want to do well on tests. Therefore we improve our strategy for taking the test. The test exerts a pressure on us. That is I think why testing improves memory. There is a difference to the student when a teachers says do this work and take this test. A test carries much more weight than the study sheet on the same material.

Part of the problem is that students do not see the connection. If they knew that doing well on the study sheet would improve their grade on the test they might work harder on the study sheet.

The problem is keeping the balance. If we give too many tests student begin to devalue them and we would lose the pressure that makes them learn from the tests. If we give too few they lose the opportunity to learn and grow.

Application
A teacher needs to keep tests relevant and stress their importance. Teachers could give quizzes in place of tests. While quizzes would not carry as much weight they would encourage the student to form better connections with the information they are learning without lessening the impact of testing.