Uncategorized – Jessica DesRoches

Motivation

Using the materials below, how could you fix the candle to the wall so that when lit the candle does not drip on the table? This experiment was created by Karl Duncker in 1945. A picture of the answer can be seen at the end of this post. The experiment is testing a heuristic calledContinue reading “Motivation”

Compassion

How could we more directly teach compassion in K-12 schools? It is one of those soft skills we speak about and likely model, but inconsistently directly address. I direct teach metacognition, communication, and collaboration skills – but I need to add compassion to my list. Compassion is someone’s emotional response to someone else’s pain thatContinue reading “Compassion”

Scaling Research into Practice

Research and implementation of evidence-based practices is undeniably valuable, but difficult to successfully do. Why? We don’t have a great understanding of the science of scaling yet. Scaling is taking a successful strategy from a small system to a much larger system. The study of how well we do this is called implementation science. ItContinue reading “Scaling Research into Practice”

Could We Open-Source Education?

Word Press’ Matt Mullenweg feels that over time, open-source software will outperform all competitors (The Knowledge Project Podcast: “Episode 100: Collaboration is Key”). Open-source resources are developed by anyone who would like to contribute. The resultant software is free to change, improve, understand, distribute and profit from. Word Press (which hosts this website) is anContinue reading “Could We Open-Source Education?”

Seeking Comfort in the Unfamiliar

January 1, 2021 Do students prefer familiar or unfamiliar classes during unsettled times? When you are uncomfortable do you resort to familiar things? Re-read the same books, watch the same movies, listen to familiar music? Or are you more inclined to stir things up and try something new? The mere-exposure-effect (Robert Zajonc) predicts that peopleContinue reading “Seeking Comfort in the Unfamiliar”