How Educators Can Get More Value from Learning Science R&D

Why are the “myths” about how we learn sometimes more powerful than what research has delivered? In this episode of Future Fluent, Jeremy and Betsy interview Dr. Melina Uncapher, a neuroscience researcher and learning science practitioner who has spent her professional life trying to help educators and researchers work together. They plunge into one of the great myths of learning–that we have different “styles” of learning–and then ask the question: Can AI make it possible to weave learning science into the classroom? Betsy puts a challenge to Melina.

Learn more! Here’s where you can explore some of the ideas around learning science and AI that we discussed with Dr. Melina Uncapher. 

• “Strategic Surprise and the Future of Educational R&D” is an openly available white paper coauthored by Drs. Melina Uncapher and Jeremy Roschelle. The core point: Generative AI is catalyzing rapid shifts in learning practices that far outpace how we have traditionally responded to changes. This paper proposes to re-architect education R&D to be more agile, responsive, and, hopefully to create breakthrough potential. 
• Designed for Brilliance is a workbook resource for teachers on how to apply learning science by Dr. Uncapher. At the moment, it’s available as a downloadable PDF. Check out Chapter 2: The top 7 Neuromyths, Busted.  
• On the broad topic of using evidence-based practices in the classroom, take a look at the Accelerate, Transform Scale Hub launched recently by Digital Promise and SRI. Background details here. 
• Why good ideas stall in education – an opinion piece by Dr. Uncapher and Nat Kendall-Taylor in the 74Million. 
• AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can’t and How to Tell the Difference, by computer scientists Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor, from Princeton University Press, is well-worth a read. 
• And if it all seems like a bit too much, check out the Pixar movie, Inside Out, which, as Melina says, puts the principles of learning science into animation! 

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