The Growth-Mindset Classroom: Considering the Process as the Product
Imagine two students in your crowded lecture hall. One views a difficult problem as a signal that they lack the talent to succeed, quickly turning to external shortcuts to find the answer. The second student sees that same struggle as fuel for their brain, understanding that mental effort is the physical process of building new […]
Instructional Illusions
In classrooms worldwide, we often confuse busyness with learning, novelty with effectiveness, and engagement with deep understanding. In Instructional Illusions, Kirschner, Hendrick and Heal (2025) pull back the curtain on ten pervasive but misleading assumptions about teaching and learning—what look like good practices on the surface, but which cognitive science shows are often counterproductive. This […]
Structuring Peer-to-Peer Learning for Authentic Engagement
One of the greatest strengths in any classroom lies in the students themselves. While instructors often feel pressure to provide all the answers, authentic engagement frequently emerges when learners connect with and learn from each other. Peer-to-peer learning allows students to be co-creators of knowledge, drawing on their collective insights, diverse perspectives, and lived experiences. […]
Engaging Students with Academic Reading
Reading is fundamental to the learning process. Yet, there is increasing concern that students are not engaging with assigned readings (McMurtrie, B. 2024; Stripling, J. 2024). When students don’t engage with assigned readings, they miss critical information, their classroom participation is limited, and their academic performance and peer learning suffer. Some barriers to reading are: […]
