Friday Mindset #125

It’s Friday!

We’re not going to mess you about - the sun is shining and Netherlands v France kicks off in a matter of hours, so let’s get down to business.

Lots to share this week!

Something to try...

We’ve stumbled across the work of Neuroscientist Dr Jared Cooney Horvath (University of Melbourne, and Director of the Science of Learning Group) recently. What Horvath is particularly good at doing is taking a piece of educational research, and breaking it down in less than ten minutes, explaining it with an enthusiastic clarity that really resonates.

Take this video, for example. It’s simple and clear enough to show students. There’s a spot just before the results are revealed where you could pause, and discuss what students think will happen - then the outcome is fantastically positive: anyone can indeed learn anything.

Actually, it might be one to show cynical staff - you know, the ‘we can’t put in what God left out’ types:

 Something we're reading...

This is a tough read.

Anything online is a tough read - just trying to find the text of the article amongst the damn adverts is enough to drive you insane. But this is tough for the stories it tells. We can feel students’ pain. It feels like there’s pretty much one of these a year:

It’s stories like these that had us working on the idea of fixed versus variable practice this year. We shared our presentation with you just about six weeks ago. You may have missed it. If you want to create a climate in which disasters like this are (even slightly) less likely, try exploring this with students;

Portal Talk...

Our latest offer...

Remember we went through a phase of giving away books related to How to Study Successfully at University? We’d been buying and reading them all in an attempt to find one we could share with year 13s, and their parents.

We didn’t find one book that did exactly what we wanted. Each of them had their moments, though. We gave away a few earlier in the term, then earlier this week, found we had one left over.

It’s a lighthearted little pocket guide, How to Survive University, by Tamsin King… and it’s yours if you’re the first to email us at [email protected] with a work address to post it to!

Check your clocks, folks. If it’s anytime around 3:30-3:45 on Friday 21st June, you’re in with a chance!

Alright. At ease, it’s the weekend. All the best to you and yours,

Tony, Martin and Steve