Episodes
Sunday Jun 05, 2022
Sunday Jun 05, 2022
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this podcast I discussed social and emotional learning with Professor Sara Rimm-Kaufman from the University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development.
Among the topics discussed were:
- What social and emotional learning is
- The implicit and explicit process of learning social and emotional skills
- How children can learn empathy
- Her book for teachers: SEL from the Start
- From listening to respectful communication to respecting others’ perspectives
- Where social emotional learning fits in the regular school curriculum
- What service learning is and examples of it in practice
- Three possible categories of service learning solutions: Educate others, change a policy or take direct action.
- The relationship between service learning and project-based learning
- How Sara Rimm-Kaufman and her colleagues (including Tracy Harkins and Eileen Merritt) developed Connect Science, a scheme that uses the service learning approach to combine social emotional learning and academic content
- Applying service learning in different curriculum subject areas
- The notion of “fidelity of implementation” in education research (and an “intent to treat” analysis)
- The theme that characterises her research interests: the centrality of social emotional learning (e.g. for racial equity) and the widespread practices in school that have never been studied but would benefit from research into their effectiveness or lack of effectiveness
- The source of her research interests
- Her early research on primates and working with Professor Jerry Kagan to subsequently working in schools with children in first grade.
- Why she likes conducting research in schools, despite the challenges such research brings
- Relational trust – what it is and why it is important among the adults in a school
- Who has responsibility for building relational trust among the adult community in a school?
- Building relational trust with and among children in a school
- The relation between a teacher’s beliefs and their practice – a bidirectional process.
- She loves the work of Dan Willingham, a former guest on this podcast.
Saturday Oct 16, 2021
Saturday Oct 16, 2021
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
Theme tune composed by David Vesey
On this week's podcast I speak to cognitive scientist, Professor Daniel T Willingham from the University of Virginia. We discuss learning to read, learning styles, multiple intelligences, education research and more. The full range of topics includes:
- Applying the science of learning in school and at home
- Paradigms of cognitive psychology (reasonable assumptions)
- How cognitive science replaced behaviourism
- How cognitive science might inform the teaching of different subjects across the curriculum
- The relationship between basic science and applied science for teachers
- Why an opportunity exists for teacher organisations to review science and provide periodic updates for teachers to critique ideas (such as say, grit).
- Initial teacher education should provide a grounding in the science of learning and subsequently teachers’ knowledge needs to be updated as the science evolves (and why the onus for such updating should not be on individual teachers)
- Among the few reliable publications for teachers he'd recommend are American Educator, and Phi Delta Kappan.
- Evaluating the relative importance of technical competence (decoding) and motivation in learning to read.
- The difference between reading a book and listening to an audio book (How prosody helps comprehension in audio books and how regressions help us in comprehending text) and why textbooks are different.
- Can audiobooks help a child who is having difficulties learning to decode?
- Criticism of the learning styles theory of the mind – there’s no scientific basis to pedagogies based on learning styles. Why style differs to memory and ability and the importance of meaning in learning. Learning styles may offer a different ways for a teacher to think about topics they’re going to teach.
- The construct of mental ability and multiple intelligences. Is intelligence one single construct or is it several independent constructs?
- Can critical thinking be taught? Can being a good critical thinker in one domain help you think critically in other domains? The importance of seeing the same underlying structure in various guises when practising critical thinking.
- How he evaluates the value or potential contribution of a research article in education.
- Contradictions in educational research – parallels with COVID-19 research. Why professional organisations need to tease out research implications for teachers.
- Why he reads very broadly in education.
- Daniel Willingham’s “2002-style” website. He’s on Facebook and Twitter @dtwillingham. His most recent books are Why don’t students like school (2nd out now) and Outsmart your brain (August 2022).
Saturday Dec 19, 2020
Podcast 411, Curriculum Integration (19-12-20)
Saturday Dec 19, 2020
Saturday Dec 19, 2020
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
In this episode I speak to two experts on curriculum integration from Brock University in Ontario, Canada, Professor Susan Drake and Dr. Joanne Reid. Among the topics we discuss are the following:
- Multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary connections among subjects
- SAMPLE TOPICS FOR INTEGRATION: War, water, homelessness, food waste in the cafeteria, traffic patterns in a school, sustainability, patterns, change, conflict, trace origin of everyday item (Coffee, chocolate etc.), medieval fair.
- Finnish requirement that students do a phenomenon-based learning unit each year based around transversal competencies (21st century)
- Project-based learning examples
- Students present their work to an authentic audience
- Finding themes for integration (look out your window!)
- Project-based learning on Edutopia
- Buck Institute and Project-based learning
- Benefits of integration: more fun, students are engaged, fewer behaviour problems, social and emotional development, wellbeing, relevance, focus on whole person. Teachers who collaborate are more energised and creative
- OECD Report: Curriculum Overload: A Way Forward.
- Student achievement and integrated curricula
- Obstacles to integration: textbooks, timetabling, subject-specific responsibilities,
- Origin of Integrated teaching and its relation to constructivism which is relevant, interactive, real-world, choice, inquiry-based.
- The Eight Year Study with Ralph Tyler, Hilda Taba and others. It was written up by Aikin.
- Balancing integration and disciplinary integrity
- Cross-curricular and teaching to the big ideas compared to integrated curriculum
- Explanation of their curriculum framework: KDB: Know, Do, Be
- Twenty-first century competencies: Communication (reading, writing, oral communication, listening, media literacy), critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration, global competency, design thinking, digital skills, data literacy, financial literacy.
- How they conduct research on integrated curriculum
- Gordon Vars and research on integrated curriculum.
- Bluewater study
- What happened when standards/accountability model arrived in schools in the 1990s.
- How the pandemic has impacted on assessment
- Assessment and integration.
- Benefits of students seeing the value of their work in the wider world (having an audience outside the classroom).
- Finding out more about integrated curriculum and its history.
- John Dewey and William Heard Kilpatrick and The Project Method.
- James Beane.
- Twenty-first century life skills
- High Tech High
- Getting started with integration : Genius Hour. More here.
- Student-led teaching
- How integrated curriculum is for students of all ages.
- bell hooks
- Inside the Black Box by Paul Black and Dylan William
In addition, Susan and Joanne compiled a list of resources with additional information about curriculum integration:
Drake, S. M. & Reid, J. L. (2020). How education can shape a new story in a post-pandemic world. Brock Education, 29(2), 6-12
Drake, S. M. & Reid, J. L. (2020). 21st Century competencies in light of the history of integrated curriculum. In “Rethinking what has been rethought consistently over the millennia: A global perspective on the future of education”. Frontiers in Education Journal, 5(122), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2020.00122
Drake, S.M. & Reid, J.L. (in press). Integrated curriculum In J. Flinders & P, Hiebowitsh (Eds.) Routledge Encyclopedia of Education. New York: Routledge
Drake, S.M. & Reid, J. L. (2018). Integrated curriculum as an effective way to teach 21st Century capabilities. Asia Pacific Journal of Educational Research, 1(1), https://doi.org/10.0000/APJER.2018.1.1.031
Drake, S.M. & Reid, J. L. (2018). Integrated curriculum for the 21st Century. In J. Miller, M. Binder, S. Crowell, K. Nigh and B. Novak (Eds). International handbook in holistic education (pp.118-128) New York: Routledge.
Drake, S.M. & Reid, J. L. (2017). Interdisciplinary assessment in the 21st Century.
file:///Users/sdrake/Desktop/IEJEE_57fa80bd928bb_last_article_57fa813187fad.pdfIn Steve Pec (Ed). Scholarship of teaching and learning Part 3 (pp. 1-8) Stuyvesant Falls, NY: Rapid Intellect Group. http://www.rapidintellect.com/AE/ec5771v14.pdf
Savage, M. & Drake, S. (2016). Living transdisciplinarity: Teachers’ experiences with the International Baccalaurete Primary years Programme. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education. (19), 1-19, file:///Users/sdrake/Desktop/IEJEE_57fa80bd928bb_last_article_57fa813187fad.pdf
Drake, S.M. & Savage, M. (2016). Negotiating accountability and integrated curriculum in a global context. International Journal of Learning, Teaching, and Educational Research, 15, 6. http://www.ijlter.org/index.php/ijlter/article/view/639
Drake, S.M. (2015). Designing across the curriculum for “sustainable well-being”: A 21st Century approach. In F. Deer, T. Falkenberg, B. McMillan & L. Simms (Eds.). Sustainable Well-Being: Concepts, Issues, and Educational Practice (pp. 57-77). Winnipeg, MB: EWSB Press. http://www.eswb-press.org/uploads/1/2/8/9/12899389/sustainable_well-being_2014.pdf.
Drake. S. M., Reid, J. L., & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving curriculum and classroom assessment Engaging students for the 21st century. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.
Drake S & Burns R. (2004). Meeting standards with integrated curriculum. Alexandria, VA:ASCD. Susan says “it is the easiest "how to" book” and Joanne agrees. It is almost like a manual. Very good even if it seems old now.
Project-based learning – sites for ideas
https://www.pblworks.org/what-is-pbl
https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/project-based-learning/
https://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning
https://iearn.org (collaborative international projects)
Wednesday May 02, 2018
Programme 326, Jerome Kagan on Psychology & Education 1 (2-5-18)
Wednesday May 02, 2018
Wednesday May 02, 2018
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's programme I speak to one of the pre-eminent developmental psychologists of the twentieth century who continues publishing books and articles up to the present day. Professor Jerome Kagan of Harvard University has conducted research into infants' temperaments and how they are related to personality in later life. He is interested in how psychology can inform teachers' work. Among the topics we discuss in this part of the interview are:
- The relationship between temperament and personality
- How knowing about temperament helps teachers
- Children who find it harder to work in groups
- Insights the discipline of psychology offers to teachers
- Auditory and visual acuity
- Short-term, recall and episodic memory
- Ability to Infer
- Deduction
- Questions he’d like educational psychologists to answer
- What teachers need to know about human emotions
Tuesday May 30, 2017
Programme 294, Hilda Borko, Katie Novak & Akihiko Takahashi (31-5-17)
Tuesday May 30, 2017
Tuesday May 30, 2017
Presented and Produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's programme I bring you interview sections from previous guests which did not fit into the space available in the original programmes. First we hear Stanford University Professor of Education, Hilda Borko who talks about how she does her research. Then Dr. Katie Novak discusses the challenges and opportunities involved in applying Universal Design for Learning principles. Finally, Professor Akihiko Takahashi from De Paul University presents a Japanese perspective on mathematics teaching and on education more generally.
The programmes they orginally featured on are here:
Wednesday Jun 08, 2016
Programme 259, Multi-grade, Ability Grouping & Research with Bob Slavin (8-6-16)
Wednesday Jun 08, 2016
Wednesday Jun 08, 2016
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's programme I bring you the second part of my interview with Professor Bob Slavin from the School of Education at Johns Hopkins University. I ask him if ability grouping has any benefit for high achievers and we discuss multigrade teaching, educational research and his chairing of the Success for All foundation. I interviewed Bob at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.
Wednesday Jun 01, 2016
Programme 258, Cooperative Learning & Ability Grouping with Bob Slavin (1-6-16)
Wednesday Jun 01, 2016
Wednesday Jun 01, 2016
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's programme my guest is Professor Bob Slavin from Johns Hopkins University School of Education. The topics covered were cooperative learning and ability grouping. I spoke to him on the fringes of the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in Washington DC in April 2016.
Wednesday Nov 25, 2015
Programme 232, David Rose pt. 2 & English as an Additional Language (25-11-15)
Wednesday Nov 25, 2015
Wednesday Nov 25, 2015
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's programme I bring you the second part of my interview with Dr. David Rose of CAST where he talks about Universal Design for Learning and schools having a "print disability."
Dr. Barbara O'Toole, who is coordinator of the Masters in Education Studies (Intercultural Education) programme at the Marino Institute of Education discusses some of the challenges faced by children of linguistic minorities in schools.
Wednesday May 27, 2015
Programme 219, Áine Hyland pt 2 (27-5-15)
Wednesday May 27, 2015
Wednesday May 27, 2015
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's programme I bring you the second part of my interview with Professor Áine Hyland. In it she talks about multiple intelligences, influencing policy, professional education and more.
Sunday Jun 02, 2013
Programme 178, Collaborative & Cooperative Learning (2-6-13)
Sunday Jun 02, 2013
Sunday Jun 02, 2013
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. On this week's programme I spoke to Professor Angela O'Donnell who is originally from Ireland but who has a successful academic career in the United States as an educational psychologist. She is based in Rutgers University and is author of Educational Psychology: Reflection for Action.