Instructional Tools
The episodes in this category are all about teaching and learning.
Since I’m a teacher and life-long learner, I can’t help but make episodes about the teaching process. If you’re a teacher (or want to be one), you’ll find episodes here about new teaching tools that draw upon human learning principles.
Episodes
- Episode 102: How to Create an Online Experiment on Eyewitness Testimony Accuracy
Want to create an online experiment? Here’s how to do it. I’ll show you how you can create an online experiment using Sproutbuilder and Google Forms. Using these two tools, you’ll be able to get creative and put together an experiment online that others all over the world can take.
- Episode 100: Reflections on 100 Episodes of The Psych Files
Well, it’s here – episode 100. I take this time to reflect on which episodes have made the most impact on the podcast and the episodes and listeners that have taught me the most. Also, I provide a little background on how the podcast is produced, along with what programs and equipment are used.
- Episode 90: The Learning Styles Myth: An Interview with Daniel Willingham
Guess what? There’s no such thing as learning style (the theory that each of us has a preferred way to learn new ideas. There are many supposed kinds of learning styles, such as a visual learning style, an auditory style, kinesthetic, etc.). Don’t believe it? Neither did I at first. I was sure for a long time that I personally had a visual learning style. Now I’m not so sure anymore. Listen to this interview with professor and author Daniel Willingham as he and I discuss the topic of learning styles.
- Episode 86 (video): Educational Games
Can games really be educational? They are certainly addictive and engaging. Can we harness this aspect of games and use it to learn? In this video I show you why I believe the answer is yes. Let’s talk about what really good teaching is and what really good games are like. Then I take you on a brief tour of what I believe are some of the best examples of great educational games.
- Episode 85: How to Make Learning Fun Again – Constructivism and Democratic Schools – Part 2
What the heck is constructivism anyway? In this episode I explore that topic with Dr. Eugene Geist. We also explore what some would consider a radical concept in education: democratic schools. What would happen if we let children decide how they wanted to learn? Complete Chaos? Or an exciting new way to get students involved in and taking responsibility for learning?
- Episode 84: How To Make Learning Fun Again Part 1 – Piaget
Can we make learning as fun as it was when you were a child? We can. Listen to Dr. Eugene Geist as he explains the cognitive development theories of Jean Piaget and you'll understand why we are all geared to learn.
- Episode 56: What is Music Therapy?
Interested in Music Therapy? Music therapy, which is often used with children with autism, can also be used in the classroom to help children learn patterns. In this interview music therapist Kamile Geist talks about types and techniques of music therapy.
- Episode 54: Math Anxiety – Causes and Cures
Could it be that the roots of math anxiety lie not with math itself but with the way math is taught? I speak with Dr. Eugene Geist, specialist in early childhood education. We talk about math anxiety – how it develops and what can be done to help kids overcome it.
- Episode 53: Mindful Learning, NCLB, and the True Foundations of Success
Tired of rote memorization? Tired of NCLB? Try mindful learning. In this episode I explore psychologist Ellen Langer’s concept of mindful learning. What does it mean to teach and learn in a mindful way?
- Episode 49: Classroom Management – An Interview with Dr. Ross Green part 2
In this episode I continue the interview on Collaborative Problem Solving in the classroom with Dr. Ross Green, author of The Explosive Child. A fascinating interview.
- Episode 48: Classroom Management – An Interview with Dr. Ross Green
There are a lot of strategies for dealing with behavior problems in the classroom. It’s time to add Collaborative Problem Solving to your toolkit. Learn an alternative to traditional classroom discipline techniques like timeout or sending the child to the principal.
- Episode 39: Mashups and the Future of Psychological Research
Have you heard about Mashups? What do they have to do with psychology? In this video I�ll show you how to use RSS feeds, Google Reader, and Yahoo Pipes to create a mashup that searches the web for the very latest information on psychological terms.
- Psychology Research Methods: Check Out “The Mappr”!
Taking a psychology class? Confused about Research Methods? Let me know what you think of a new tool I built which I call the "MAPPR". That stands for "Make A Personal Psych Review" (best name I could come up with). Here’s what it does: I’ve selected a typical topic from an Intro Psych course: the scientific method (might be referred to as Research Methods in your textbook) and I chose what I think are the bold terms that most students of psychology would have to learn from the chapter on this topic. I put these terms into a concept map and then recorded my own explanations for what these terms mean. Then (not done yet) I put the concept map and the audio files into a small online application which allows you to choose only those terms you find difficult or which you want to review. So: on the map you click the terms you want to review and then click the "Play" button and hear my explanation of those terms. It’s probably best to check it out yourself.
Let me know what you think!
Click here to go to the MAPPR
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In case you want to download the map itself, click on the image below and then print out or download the jpg image on the next screen.
- Episode 31: Lemon Slices and a New Face on Mars! Gestalt Principles at Work
The gestalt principles of perception – how do they explain how we not only sometimes perceive strange things, but also how we can appreciate works of art? We’ll see images on lemon slices, on Mars, and on building tops. Why do we perceive these things?
- Episode 29: Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic vs. the Motivation To Learn
You’ve probably heard about the battle between intrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Well, here’s a new and powerful way to motivate students: the Motivation to Learn.
- Video Walkthrough: Setting up a Blog, uploading audio, and using RSS
if you’re interested in how to set up a blog, how to post audio files to the web to create a podcast, and how to use RSS and iTunes to let students know about new audio you’ve uploaded (the technology behind podcasting), I created a video walkthrough which shows how all this is done.
- Episode 23: Do Teachers Have to be Actors in the Classroom Today?
We often heard it said that teachers have to be actors today in order to keep the attention of today’s low attention span students. Well, in this episode I agree that teachers and actors do think alike in many ways – but not in the ways most people think. Join me as I explore how teachers and actors think alike in terms of objectives, obstacles, “raising the stakes”, and getting feedback from other actors/students.
- Episode 22: The Brains Behind Erikson Part 1 – Timeliner
I decided that it was time to look at the biology behind the changes that occur in our lives as we grow. As I put my ideas together to do this, I employed a very neat program called Timeliner. It is so cool in fact that I decided to do an episode solely on how to use Timeliner, especially the tool called “merge”. If you are an educator I think you’ll find this episode interesting.
