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Student reading book

How do students learn?

Learning and the brain

How does learning affect the brains of children and adults, and how adaptable is the brain?

  • What's the brain got to do with it? <article> Kurt Fischer
  • Skills and the brain grow together <video> Kurt Fischer
  • How education can change the brain <summary + video> Antonio Damasio
  • The flexible brain <interview> Kurt Fischer
  • Are people more than just their brains? <video> Kurt Fischer and Antonio Damasio

Learning and language

What are the essential components of learning to read and write, and how do we learn from the language that surrounds us?

  • If you can't see it, feel it, or taste it, how can you learn about it? <article> Paul Harris
  • Learning from talk <interview> Paul Harris
  • Listen to your mother <article> Barbara Alexander Pan, Judith Singer and Catherine Snow

Learning by doing

How do activities and environments influence the ways students learn?

  • Learning in museums <article> Shari Tishman
  • Critical exploration in the classroom <article> Eleanor Duckworth

Child writing

How can we improve student learning?

Provide support in the early years

  • The good, the bad, and the tolerable: How different stress levels impact the developing brain <article> Jack Shonkoff

Reading and writing

What research-based approaches and techniques can educators use to help students become successful and eager learners?

Utilize new and emerging technology

Can new technology enable fundamentally new ways to support the learning process?

  • Handheld computing <video> Chris Dede
  • Learning in a virtual world <video> Chris Dede
  • Teaching for understanding with technology <article> Stone Wiske

Teach for understanding

How can students move beyond learning facts to developing deep understanding?

  • Connections, consequences, and understanding <article> Tina Grotzer
  • Origins of a framework for effective practice <article> Howard Gardner, David Perkins, and Vito Perrone

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