Special: The science of learning, the humility of teaching

Learning is at the center of everything in education, so understanding how the human brain processes, retains, and retrieves new information is essential to student growth. In this special crossover episode, Susan joins forces with fellow Amplify podcast hosts Eric Cross from Science Connections, and Dan Meyer and Bethany Lockhart Johnson from Math Teacher Lounge, to discuss what learning really means across subjects. Susan is also joined by Peter C. Brown, author of the book Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, to dive into the cognitive science behind how our brains learn and ways you can apply that research in your classroom right now!

Show notes: 

• Amplify podcast hub
• Podcast: Science of Reading: The Podcast
• Podcast: Math Teacher Lounge
  Podcast: Science Connections
• Book: “Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning,” by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III,, Mark A. McDaniel
• Website: Retrieval Practice

Quotes:
“As much as I'm into the science of learning, I really wanna be into, like, the humility of teaching” —Dan Meyer

“Learning is this fluid thing. It's social, it's dynamic, it's experiential. It is the process of acquiring knowledge and understanding, and developing these behavioral skills, but it's also embedded in this bigger context of your background, your identity.” —Eric Cross

“For myself as an educator, I am just a lily pad as [students] hop across the pond, but I want to be the best lily pad possible. I want to give them the strongest surface. I want to give them the most security that I can.” —Eric Cross

“There's new ways to solve the problem. There's new ways to look at the problem. There's new ways to take apart the problem and put it back together. And for me, that's when learning happens.” —Bethany Lockhart Johnson

“The scientists have discovered that for something to be learned and retained, you need to help the brain do that by practicing, retrieving it from memory, and practicing explaining it in your own words to somebody else asking.” —Peter C. Brown

“There's really great evidence that we can then teach our students or maybe even ourselves how to be a better learner.” —Susan Lambert

“Joy in the classroom is a much better context for learning than anxiety.” —Susan Lambert