Dad. Iowan. Former HS social studies teacher. Creative Director @ Human Restoration Project đ¸ www.humanrestorationproject.org
5,758 followers 1,934 following 6,911 posts
view profile on Bluesky 
Amped to kick off my âTech & Textâ class! Weâre exploring (often unexamined) assumptions about what we mean when we refer to âthe human.â Ss will engage with essay excerpts, poems, & art organized around 3 key concepts (reason, experience, & connection) before previewing posthumanist perspectives.
Link to full paper here: bsky.app/profile/isab...
Make your morning read this paper shared with me by @mraleosays.bsky.social: "Beyond the theoretical and pedagogical constraints of cognitive load theory, and towards a new cognitive philosophy in education" #EduSky #CLT #SoL A đ§ľ:
If a system requires dehumanizing students & teachers, it isnât working. Teaching must embrace complexity: science, culture, ecology, identity. Thatâs how we create classrooms of belonging. Thanks @covingtonedu.bsky.social for naming these urgent truths #MathEquity #iTeachMath #EduSky
Also why one of my top priorities to begin any school year is building that foundation for a collaborative classroom. It doesn't just happen! Intentionality matters here. (So does priority.) thebrokencopier.substack.com/p/building-a...
"These new perspectives also undermine the traditional linear, mechanical, representationalist, information processing model of brain functioning that seem to underpin how working memory is conceived in CLT (Key Claim 3), that is challenged by the notion of the embodied, Bayesian predictive brain."
Looks like I'm gonna have to get another book. đ
Dehaene, S. (2014). Consciousness and the brain: Deciphering how the brain codes our thoughts. Penguin Books. Dehaene, S. (2020). How we learn: The new science of education and the brain. Penguin Random House.
I think you'd have to read Dehaene for that, I'm not sure! I'll try to post the reference when I can.
Imagine your oncologist being trapped in the literature & practice of the 1980s, or a NASA scientist doubling down on Newton in a relativistic universe. At some point our ideas about teaching, learning, & the brain are gonna have to catch up with the last 3 decades of embodied, enactive holism.
"The paper pushes past CLT, w/ its emphasis on the transient nature of working memory and core notion of cognitive âloadâ, to propose an account of the learning brain that is predictive (not reactive), embodied, neuronally plastic, non-linear, dynamically self-organising, and inherently emotional."
âď¸ Attention (culture of collaboration helps with this) âď¸ Active Engagement (culture of collaboration helps with this) âď¸ Error Feedback (culture of collaboration helps with this) âď¸ Consolidation (culture of collaboration helps with this) Reminder: collaborative classrooms = better classrooms
"Over the past 30 years or so, considerable advances have been made in our understanding of how children learn and develop, so much so that it is possible to speak of an âemerging consensus about the science of learning and developmentâ, w/ multiple implications for school and classroom practice..."
"More fundamentally, how are memory and learning being conceived in CLT and what assumptions are being made about the child or adolescent as a learner at school? Peter Ellerton (2022) has recently noted, âCLT offers no recognition of the learner as an autonomous agentâ."
Link to full paper here: bsky.app/profile/isab...
Thank you for including the link! I was trying to sneak this in ahead of boarding a morning flight!
Great thread re the limitations of cognitive load theory. Thanks for sharing. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Full piece here: Beyond Pavlov's Perfect Student - How the varied and dynamic nature of learning environments necessitates a more flexible and holistic approach. www.humanrestorationproject.org/writing/goin...
And it's an argument my co-author and I made in addressing the reaction to criticisms of The Science of Learningâ˘ď¸: "To say that we all figured this out long ago and that new evidence is actually pulling us astray, let's call that out for what it is: That's ideology, not science." #EduSky
Immordino-Yang made an analogy to a Copernican shift in our fundamental understanding of learning and the brain. The ghost of Sweller's CLT actually prevents us from investigating & incorporating new evidence-based ideas that can improve teaching & learning. bsky.app/profile/covi...
The argument the authors of this paper seem to be making is that if you make Sweller's cognitive load theory the central pillar of your pedagogy, you're actually *not* being responsive to scientific developments of the last 30 years that really should be informing teaching & learning in school.
"This emerging science of learning and development results, in particular, from major advances in neuroscience and in the science of dynamic, non-linear, complex, self-organising systems such as, par excellence, the human brain. It incorporates, for example, new understandings of:"
"When considered in light of the newly emerging consensus regarding the science and learning and development and the conceptual framework provided by cognitive philosophy, CLT appears to be an old theory, trapped in the issues and concerns of cognitivist psychology in the 1980s..."
Conclusion: "There really is much more occurring in the learning brain than is dreamt of in Swellerâs cognitive load theory, and thus much more for teachers to engage with as part of their professional learning." #EduSky #CLT #SoL
"...if you donât approach the science of learning in education with a head full of assumptions derived from old style cognitive psychology, but instead approach it with philosophical & neurobiological intent, you wonât end up embracing a theory such as CLT..." #EduSky #CLT #SoL
Conclusion: "There really is much more occurring in the learning brain than is dreamt of in Swellerâs cognitive load theory, and thus much more for teachers to engage with as part of their professional learning." #EduSky #CLT #SoL
"We also concur with neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene (2020), that there are four necessary pillars of learning, namely attention, active engagement, error feedback and consolidation. These should be at the core of every classroom teacherâs practice, not the notion of cognitive load..."
"These new perspectives also undermine the traditional linear, mechanical, representationalist, information processing model of brain functioning that seem to underpin how working memory is conceived in CLT (Key Claim 3), that is challenged by the notion of the embodied, Bayesian predictive brain."
"When considered in light of the newly emerging consensus regarding the science and learning and development and the conceptual framework provided by cognitive philosophy, CLT appears to be an old theory, trapped in the issues and concerns of cognitivist psychology in the 1980s..."
"This emerging science of learning and development results, in particular, from major advances in neuroscience and in the science of dynamic, non-linear, complex, self-organising systems such as, par excellence, the human brain. It incorporates, for example, new understandings of:"
"Over the past 30 years or so, considerable advances have been made in our understanding of how children learn and develop, so much so that it is possible to speak of an âemerging consensus about the science of learning and developmentâ, w/ multiple implications for school and classroom practice..."
"But could the notion of short-term memory be a little more problematic than assumed in CLT (and cognitive psychology, generally), resulting from the way it is experimentally assessed?"
"...why are we offered an image of the learner, devoid of curiosity & creativity, who economically & unemotionally acquires knowledge through direct instruction. Is this bleak image of the learner really a product of brain architecture...or might there be other political factors as play?"
"More fundamentally, how are memory and learning being conceived in CLT and what assumptions are being made about the child or adolescent as a learner at school? Peter Ellerton (2022) has recently noted, âCLT offers no recognition of the learner as an autonomous agentâ."
"[CLT offers] a truly bewildering set of claims that, given a momentâs thought, are educationally, philosophically, and neurobiologically questionable."
"The paper pushes past CLT, w/ its emphasis on the transient nature of working memory and core notion of cognitive âloadâ, to propose an account of the learning brain that is predictive (not reactive), embodied, neuronally plastic, non-linear, dynamically self-organising, and inherently emotional."
Make your morning read this paper shared with me by @mraleosays.bsky.social: "Beyond the theoretical and pedagogical constraints of cognitive load theory, and towards a new cognitive philosophy in education" #EduSky #CLT #SoL A đ§ľ:
Again ⌠California already requires a more rigorous 50-question constitution test to obtain their credential, which means it wouldnât weed them out â even if this test wasnât intellectual bile, itâs not even the revolution in values they seem to believe it is. This whole thing is just idioticâŚ
Oklahoma is now requiring out-of-state teachers to pass a partisan litmus test (nuanced, but includes all sorts of conservative opinions of the Constitution and free market economics). @covingtonedu.bsky.social does a great job previewing it (so you don't have to give PragerU your personal info).
Of course Page A7 is a full-page ad: "How would you assess a teacher who took this test and failed it? Would you want that person teaching your children? The answer for Oklahoma is no. We suspect (or, at least, hope) your answer would be the same..."
Of course Page A7 is a full-page ad: "How would you assess a teacher who took this test and failed it? Would you want that person teaching your children? The answer for Oklahoma is no. We suspect (or, at least, hope) your answer would be the same..."
I'm not exactly sure what a full-color bottom-of-the-front-page ad in the Sunday NYT costs, but apparently it's cheap enough for PragerU: "Can you pass the Oklahoma Teacher Test? See page A7" (Trying to find what's on A7...)
A website that lets you select a country or state and move it around a Mercator projection map to yield better size comparisons. thetruesize.com, created by James Talmage and Damon Maneice
This is such an inspiring thread. đđž
This whole thread is exhausting. The questions vary between insulting to teachersâ professionalism, trivial, and irrelevant (but requiring a particular set of beliefs). Nothing about actual teacher qualification.
Right, but again, the question is framed in a deliberately misleading way to downplay the role of slavery as a cause of, or the end of slavery as a result of, the Civil War. Why did the Union require preservation in the first place?
The whole point of the question is to divide MLK's advocacy from current civil rights language framed through "DEI" when there is not a material difference between the two. PragerU would've hated King in his own time even as they uplift his caricature in the present.
If inclusion is "the practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities & resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized, such as those who have physical or intellectual disabilities & members of other minority groups," I'm not sure there is a difference. đ
I feel this way sometimes. Maybe not less confident, but less sure - & definitely more aware of how good teaching & learning takes loads of planning, work, commitment & time. For it to be real, deep & meaningful, it takes a lot. But Iâm better at it as itâs happening. And what matters/what doesnât.
I took PragerU's Oklahoma Teacher Certification Exam so you don't have to. Question highlights in this thread:
How can school leaders protect the mission of their schools as sites of pro-social change? Our latest episode is a conversation with Jennifer D. Klein about her newest book, Taming the Turbulence in Educational Leadership: www.humanrestorationproject.org/podcasts/tam... #EduSky
Exactly!
You can only conclude that this was not designed by or for actual Oklahomans but rather for a national audience primarily concerned with selling a divisive culture war and furthering Walters' reactionary bona fides. đ¤ˇ
I can't stop thinking about how there are ZERO questions about Oklahoma on this test for OK educators. Not even: When did OK become a state? Who is the current governor? What % of land is legally tribal land? What is the largest industry in OK? All more relevant than any of the 34 Qs they chose.
That's my guess too, but I wonder why the hell it took them so long?
Exactly. It's just...very weird?
Right? It's deeply weird and totally boring at the same time, like bringing that blue ketchup from the 90s to the cookout.
Exactly!
If I ever walk into one of my kidsâ classrooms and see one of these on the wall, I will turn into the Abe Simpson hat meme.
I don't think anyone has asked this question, but there is probably a legal way to get the answer.
The same people spent my adolescence trying to make my 10th grade biology teacher teach "Intelligent Design".
I felt the same way. After the first ten questions it stops being offensive and becomes deeply boring and stupid, like they ran out of steam and had to zip zop zap 24 additional questions to flesh it out.
Why did this take a partnership between a multi-million dollar propaganda organization and *the State of Oklahoma*? I've been in 45 minute PLC meetings that have produced better designed assessments. This is just an artifact of deeply weird & insulated people, there's no other way to describe it.
I took PragerU's Oklahoma Teacher Certification Exam so you don't have to. Question highlights in this thread:
Yeah, it's a frustrating combination of flagrantly intrusive and totally banal. It's like biting into a screw halfway into your Costco totally average Costco hotdog.
If I am an Oklahoma parent, I don't want my kid's teacher to be thinking about their reproductive anatomy. Mind your business, thanks!
Of course, once you finish the exam (and have my results send to no@no.com), you are prompted to donate to PragerU for a matched gift (don't do this):
I'm really just bored and irritated by how this test started off as a culture war barometer and turned into the history questions from Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? *This is a test for classroom teachers in Oklahoma*
If you're an Oklahoma parent, does it matter to you if your kid's 2nd grade teacher can correctly identify what PragerU says is how the Cold War ended? I have to keep reminding myself this is a test for prospective teachers that's supposed to say something about Oklahoma values? But what?
What cause is MLK Jr. best known for? "Advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion" is not the right answer, apparently.
Interesting framing for this question... What was Abraham Lincoln's primary reason for waging the Civil War? Really implying that slavery and its expansion was not the most salient issue of the Civil War, even if, yes, abolition was not "the primary reason for waging the Civil War"
"What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?" This is a test for Oklahoma teachers...
This is just a trivia question, entirely non material even to the functioning of American government.
Why is this a question that potential Oklahoma teachers should concern themselves with an any kind of certification exam?
(my test bugged out and I had to restart it...) (also there is nothing that would prevent anyone from just tabbing out to look up the answers if they didn't know them...)
What kind of question is this? For a test designed for teachers in a particular state, I haven't encountered any questions about Oklahoma or the context of its own schools and laws. Surely the governor of Oklahoma also sign bills into law? Exclusively federal emphasis so far.
I'm struck that, as a certification exam for teachers, there are zero questions about actual teaching and learning and by how fundamentally weird some questions are? Why are there so many questions prompting would-be educators about the reproductive anatomy of children?
What is Question 3 even getting at? đŹ
The priorities are exactly what you'd expect. Here's question 3 (followed by 3 more that make absolutely sure you have the right views on trans kids) and by Q8 we've made it to the constitution... (The whole thing is of course also terribly buggy)
Here's what that certificate looks like for completing the PragerU Oklahoma Teacher Qualification Test:
Here's what that certificate looks like for completing the PragerU Oklahoma Teacher Qualification Test:
A PragerU certificate sounds less like something I want to achieve and more like something I need to take an antibiotic for.
The Oklahoma Teacher Qualification Test from PragerU is finally up on their website (but you have to at least provide them fake contact info first): "Educators who pass the test will receive an official PragerU Teacher Certificate..." www.prageru.com/teacher-qual...
What's the HRP podcast up to this month?đ 8/2: The Empathetic Classroom w/ Maria Munro-Schuster 8/16: âBullshit Universitiesâ & the Future of Automated Education w/ Robert Sparrow & Gene Flenady 8/30: Taming the Turbulence w/ Jennifer D. Klein www.humanrestorationproject.org/podcast #EduSky
Back in 2023 we actually had the opportunity to sit down with former Rep. Jamaal Bowman about his background as an educator and his vision at that time for the More Teaching, Less Testing Act: www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9Aw...
Just confirmed a pretty ambitious and high profile @humanrestorationproject.org podcast interview for a couple of weeks from now. A former special education teacher who is now one of just 45 lieutenant governors in the United States...đ
They say this as a kind of appeal to the universal human condition, but really it's an admission that Americans are uniquely broken and mentally ill people compared to the rest of the world.
You manifested it.
The reanimated corpse of Chuck Grassley, however, will run for re-election for a 23rd term in 2082.
The return of the education reform zombie basically means that Dems are being encouraged to run on unpopular policies. Caitlin Drey's win in Iowa is a perfect example of why that advice is so bad open.substack.com/pub/educatio...
"Organizers...fashioned the [Freedom Schools] with educational goals directly aligned with the civil rights movement and they re-envisioned and then institutionalized pedagogy and curriculum based on the supposition that young people were key actors in the civil rights struggle."
Yes! I've also been spending time with the Freedom School curriculum docs up at educationandemocracy.org. Been talking with Jon Hale about arranging conversations with him and leaders from the modern CDF Freedom Schools to talk about their legacy as well! www.educationanddemocracy.org/ED_FSC.html
I am sure you know this already, Nick, but for anyone who dips into this thread and doesn't: SNCC's Digital Gateway project has so many great primary sources! I never regret spending some time there.
A few threads I've been tugging on recently...
"Though prepared in less than one year, the organization of the Freedom Schools had lasting effects as it put forth a model of education for social change that influenced reformers for the remainder of the twentieth century." đĽ
...The Freedom Schools radicalized the larger assault on Jim Crow that summer because they developed additional modes of resistance and institution building that reached far beyond the registrar's office and the ballot box."
