Errors are an inevitable part of learning. But many students perceive mistakes as threats to their self-esteem, associating them with failure rather than growth. By cultivating a constructive error climate, we redefine mistakes as valuable learning tools. This involves shifting the classroom narrative from “don’t
Have you noticed what students do when they’re curious about something? A few years ago, a common response to having a question about a text (or the world, for that matter) was to “ask Google.” Nowadays the common refrain seems to be “ask ChatGPT.” When
Throughout my career, I have been deeply curious about learning: what it means, how it happens, and what facilitates or hinders it. My own trajectory, from philosophy to neuroscience and ultimately education, reflects this continuous exploration. Philosophy provided the tools for asking foundational questions about
An old saying in teaching goes, “Good students laugh at our jokes; weak students write them down.” There is some truth there. Strong students are following our presentation well enough to distinguish between our attempts at explaining concepts and our attempts at humor. Students who
Have you ever felt excited when students generate brilliant ideas and then puzzled as to why they don’t implement them? Alternatively, have you observed students jumping into action without thinking through the parameters of an assignment, seeking feedback, reflecting on prior experiences, or applying what
While higher education focuses on how to prevent AI from diminishing student learning, over the past few months a number of major AI players have released study modes focused on helping students learn. This development has the potential to close the learning gap by providing
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I admit that I watch way more YouTube videos than I should. The algorithm, of course, is meant to keep suggesting videos that grab my interest per my viewing history. So I was a bit surprised one day when YouTube kept recommending a bunch of
When students come to class without understanding the assigned reading, I often assume that they didn’t do it. While this can be the case, I have also found that many students simply didn’t get the needed information out of the assigned texts. Being an expert
In past essays, I’ve covered how students fool themselves into believing they have mastered concepts when they really haven’t and how faculty can fool themselves into thinking they have taught effectively when they haven’t. Now I want to focus on institutions of higher learning. I
