The Physiology of Teaching and Learning

Credit: iStock Though the temperatures are still soaring in many areas of the country, you might be seeing the signs of school starting around you. School buses are on the streets, fresh notebooks and packs of pens are being placed front and center in stores. As you head into another year of teaching and learning, … Continue reading The Physiology of Teaching and Learning

Studying for Your Next Exam? Write a Song.

Credit: iStock Let’s pretend you hear the opening kick of “I Want You Back” by the Jackson Five. As the piano slides into the first verse and you hear: “Find the concentrations of ions out and in; Figure out the quotient, and take the log (base 10).” You can’t believe your ears. The Nernst Equation—a … Continue reading Studying for Your Next Exam? Write a Song.

Teaching and Learning through Retrieval

Credit: iStock Four summers ago, I read “Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning” by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III and Mark A. McDaniel. This book changed my life by teaching me how to use a teaching and learning tool called “retrieval.” Retrieval means putting away study resources such as books and … Continue reading Teaching and Learning through Retrieval

Virtual Reality Gives Students a New Look at Physiology

This summer I had the opportunity to design and teach a two-week course as part of the Summer Discovery program at Penn State. The program brings high school students from all over the globe, including Taiwan, Japan and Puerto Rico, to central Pennsylvania to attend college preparation courses. Taking the lead in developing and teaching … Continue reading Virtual Reality Gives Students a New Look at Physiology