Andrew Watson, educator and author of Learning and the Brain Blog and the book The Goldilocks Map, teaches us how to become healthy skeptics. Cognitive science and literacy intersect as we are inundated with information about reading science, curricular materials, motivation strategies and more. As we learn to discern and distill information, we ask the question: Is there research to support that? There are three steps to the process of unpacking the legitimacy of research. 

1. Determine if you trust the speaker. Ask: What is the best research you know of that supports that idea? 
2. Review the study. Ask: Is this study a good proxy for my students or scenario? 
3. Look for more research! Consider: Which direction does most of the research point me? 

Resources

• Learning and the Brain Blog by Andrew Watson
• The Goldilocks Map by Andrew Watson
• Isn’t Independent Reading a Research-Based Process? Reading Rockets /Tim Shanahan
• Tools to determine validity of research: 
  • ConnectedPapers.com
  • Scite.ai
  • Google Scholar 

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