How Beliefs About Learning Shape Teaching

Watch

• Plato’s best (and worst) ideas - Wisecrack ↗TED-Ed
• What makes a good teacher great? | Azul Terronez | TEDxSantoDomingo ↗TEDx Talks
• After watching this, your brain will not be the same | Lara Boyd | TEDxVancouver ↗TEDx Talks
• How Language Shapes the Way We Think | Lera Boroditsky | TED ↗TED
• Who are you, really? The puzzle of personality | Brian Little | TED ↗TED
• How the media shapes the way we view the world - BBC REEL ↗BBC Global

Read

• Why Don't Students Like School? A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom ↗An accessible primer on cognitive science, this book demystifies how the brain learns, offering crucial insights for educators to align teaching practices with mental realities.Daniel T. Willingham
• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success ↗This influential work explores how fixed versus growth mindsets profoundly shape individuals' potential and, by extension, how teachers approach fostering student development.Carol S. Dweck
• Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education ↗A foundational text arguing that education is not mere preparation but an integral part of life itself, advocating for experiential learning to cultivate democratic citizens.John Dewey
• Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement ↗A monumental meta-analysis that rigorously quantifies the impact of various teaching strategies, providing empirical ballast to challenge or affirm deeply held pedagogical convictions.John Hattie
• Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive-developmental inquiryThis landmark paper introduced metacognition, illuminating how individuals monitor and regulate their own thinking—a critical insight for designing instruction that fosters independent learning.John H. Flavell

Voices to follow

• Carol Dweck ↗Her seminal research on 'mindset' has profoundly reshaped understanding of how students' beliefs about intelligence affect their learning and teachers' pedagogical approaches.Professor of Psychology, Stanford University
• Daniel Willingham ↗He adeptly translates complex cognitive science into practical advice for educators, debunking myths about learning styles and championing evidence-based teaching strategies.Professor of Psychology, University of Virginia
• Angela Duckworth ↗A leading voice on the power of 'grit' and self-control, her work offers insights into the non-cognitive factors crucial for sustained learning and achievement.Professor of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania
• John Hattie ↗His extensive meta-analyses in 'Visible Learning' provide an unparalleled evidence base for understanding which teaching practices most effectively enhance student achievement.Emeritus Professor of Education, University of Melbourne

Glossary

• Active LearningThis is a teaching approach where students are directly involved in the learning process, rather than just listening. It encourages students to think, discuss, and solve problems. For example, participating in a class debate, doing a science experiment, or working on a group project are all forms of active learning.
• ConstructivismThis is a learning theory that suggests people learn by actively building new ideas or concepts based on their existing knowledge and experiences. You "construct" your own understanding. For example, when you learn about gravity by dropping different objects and observing what happens, you are constructing your understanding based on your actions and observations.
• Differentiated InstructionThis is when a teacher adjusts their teaching methods, materials, or assignments to meet the different learning needs, interests, and abilities of individual students in a classroom. It's about teaching everyone effectively. For example, a teacher might give some students an extra challenge problem while giving others more time or simpler examples to understand the same concept.
• Fixed MindsetThis is the belief that your intelligence and talents are set and cannot be changed much, no matter how hard you try. People with a fixed mindset might avoid challenges to protect their image. For example, if you think you're "just not good at drawing" and give up without trying to improve, you might have a fixed mindset about art.
• Growth MindsetThis is the belief that your intelligence and abilities can grow and improve over time through hard work and dedication. People with a growth mindset see challenges as opportunities to learn. For example, if you struggle with a math problem but believe you can get better by practicing, you have a growth mindset.
• Learning StyleThis is the way a person naturally prefers to take in and process new information. Some people learn best by seeing, others by hearing, and some by doing. For example, if you learn best by watching videos and looking at diagrams, you might have a visual learning style.
• MetacognitionThis means "thinking about your own thinking." It's being aware of how you learn, what you understand, and what strategies work best for you. For example, when you realize that re-reading your notes isn't helping you understand a topic and decide to try making flashcards instead, you are using metacognition.
• Passive LearningThis is a teaching approach where students primarily receive information without much direct interaction or participation. They mostly listen, read, or watch. For example, sitting quietly and listening to a teacher give a lecture or watching an educational video without taking notes or discussing are forms of passive learning.
• PedagogyThis refers to the method and practice of teaching, including how a teacher plans, delivers, and assesses lessons. It's basically the art and science of teaching. For example, a teacher who uses group projects and debates is employing a different pedagogy than one who mostly gives lectures.
• ScaffoldingThis is a teaching technique where a teacher provides temporary support to help students learn a new skill or concept, gradually removing the support as the student becomes more capable. It's like building a scaffold around a building under construction. For example, a teacher might first give you a step-by-step guide for writing an essay, then later just an outline, and eventually expect you to write one on your own.

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Where this connects to other fields, and why it's worth knowing.

• Epistemology Philosophy

  Do you learn by having facts poured into your head, or by building understanding yourself, brick by brick? A teacher's answer secretly decides how they run the whole classroom. That question is pure philosophy about how anyone knows anything, sneaking into lesson plans in disguise.

• Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Technology

  Teachers have argued forever: do you drill facts into kids, or let them figure things out themselves? Decades later, people building AI hit the exact same fork, calling it 'supervised' versus 'reinforcement' learning. Two totally separate fields ended up fighting the same fight about how any mind should learn.

• Organizational Design & People Business

  A teacher who secretly believes kids learn by drilling runs a very different classroom than one who believes kids learn by exploring. A manager works the same way: believe workers are lazy and need watching (Theory X) or trust them to self-drive (Theory Y), and you build totally different workplaces. In both cases, a private hunch about people quietly becomes the walls everyone lives inside.

• Orthodoxy and Heresy Religion

  The fight over how kids should learn to read, sounding out letters (phonics) versus recognizing whole words, gets shockingly vicious, with each side treating the other like heretics. It behaves like a religious war because it kind of is one: each camp rests on a deep belief about how minds grasp meaning that's almost impossible to prove or disprove.

• Personality & Individual Differences Psychology

  If a teacher secretly believes some kids are just 'born smart' and others aren't, that belief makes itself come true: they quietly push the 'smart' ones and give up on the rest. The gap they assumed was there gets manufactured by how they treat everyone. A private hunch in a teacher's head can end up shaping who actually succeeds.

• Religion in History History

  The first-ever mass teaching method was the catechism, kids reciting fixed religious answers by heart. It made sense: if you believe the truth is already settled and sacred, then memorizing it is the only smart move. For centuries, what people believed about knowledge itself is what decided how classrooms ran.