Enhancing Student Understanding

In this episode, Brendan Lee speaks with Dr. Carl Hendrick, a leading voice in education and co-author of What Does It Look Like in the Classroom?, How Learning Happens, and How Teaching Happens. Carl has been instrumental in helping teachers bridge the gap between research and practice, addressing the key question: That all sounds great, but what does it mean for me?

Together, they explore five essential things every teacher should do

1. Being open to powerful evidence
2. Using retrieval practice
3. Checking for understanding
4. Aligning curriculum and assessment,
5. Embracing the illusion of instruction.

This episode is packed with actionable insights to support and enhance teaching practice. 

Resources mentioned:

• What Does It Look Like in the Classroom, How Learning Happens, How Teaching Happens, and Illusions of Instruction (forthcoming, co-authored with Paul Kirschner and Jim Heal)
• Dan Willingham’s Ask the Psychologist pieces for the AFT
• Research by Paul Kirschner
• ResearchEd, founded by Tom Bennett
• Work by Tom Bennett and Daisy Christodoulou
• Ignaz Semmelweis’ paper on puerperal fever
• A 2021 EF review on cognitive science in the classroom by Thomas Perry
• Research on working memory by George Miller and Nelson Cowan
• The 1960s Follow Through study on direct instruction
• Barak Rosenshine’s principles of instruction
• David Ausubel on the importance of prior knowledge
• Madeline Hunter on checking for understanding
• Engelmann and Carnine on Explicit Direct Instruction (EDI)
• Peps McCrea’s Evidence Snacks newsletter
• Robert and Elizabeth Bjork on desirable difficulties
• The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
• John Biggs on constructive alignment
• Christine Counsell on curriculum as a narrative
• The How Learning and Teaching Happens eLearning course through Academica
• No More Marking, where Jeanette Breen works

You can connect with Dr. Carl Hendrick:

Twitter/X: @C_Hendrick

Linkedin

Websites: https://carlhendrick.substack.com/ and https://carlhendrick.com/

 You can connect with Brendan:

Twitter/X: @learnwithmrlee

Facebook: @learningwithmrlee

Website: learnwithlee.net

https://www.patreon.com/KnowledgeforTeachersPodcast