What's the Difference Between a Trait and a State?

Paul Kirschner is a renowned educational psychologist and author. He is an Emeritus Professor of Educational Psychology at the Open University of the Netherlands Guest Professor at the Thomas More University of Applied Science in Mechelen, Belgium and owner of kirschner-ED.

His most recent book How Learning Happens, explores 28 key works on learning and teaching, chosen from the fields of educational psychology and cognitive psychology, and discusses what they mean in practice. He's also written books on Evidence Informed Learning Design and Urban Myths about Learning and Education.

In this episode we discuss:

• The educational researchers that have inspired Paul and laid the foundations for the field
• Why teaching is an art informed by a science, and how teachers should incorporate research on learning into their process
• The concept of self efficacy and how our beliefs about our abilities impact our performance

We also discuss when students should learn about how learning happens, the importance of teachers in goal setting and the debate on domain-specific vs domain-general skills.