Science of Reading Essentials: The science of learning
Transcripts and additional resources:
Meet Our Guest(s):
Natalie Wexler
Natalie Wexler is the author of multiple books, including Beyond the Science of Reading: Connecting Literacy Instruction to the Science of Learning and The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System—and How to Fix It; and is the co-author, together with Judith C. Hochman, Ed.D., of The Writing Revolution: A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grades. She has a free Substack newsletter called Minding the Gap, and she was the host of the Knowledge Comprehension podcast, Season 1. More information is available on her website, www.nataliewexler.com.
Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D.
Nathaniel Swain is a teacher, instructional coach, and writer. He produces a blog for teachers called Dr. Swain’s Cognitorium and is cohost of the Chalk Dust podcast with Rebecca Birch. Nathaniel works directly with schools and systems through an online learning platform called Luminary.
He founded a community of educators committed to the science of learning, called Think Forward Educators. He also has a best-selling book, Harnessing the Science of Learning: Success Stories to Help Kickstart Your School Improvement.
Hugh Catts, Ph.D.
Hugh Catts’ research interests include the early identification and prevention of reading and disabilities. He is a former board member of the International Dyslexia Association and former president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading. He has received the Samuel T. Orton Award, the International Dyslexia Association’s highest honor, and the Honors of the Association award from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, for his career contributions in these disciplines. His current research concerns the early identification of reading and language difficulties and the nature and assessment of reading comprehension problems.
Daniel Willingham, Ph.D.
Daniel Willingham is a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, where he has taught since 1992. Until about 2000, his research focused solely on the brain basis of learning and memory. Today, all of his research concerns the application of cognitive psychology to K–12 education. He is the author of several books, including the best-selling Why Don’t Students Like School? and Outsmart Your Brain. His writing on education has appeared in 23 languages. In 2017, he was appointed by President Barack Obama to the National Board for Education Sciences.
Peter C. Brown
Peter C. Brown is a bestselling writer and novelist, retired from a career as a management consultant. He is the lead author of Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. Make It Stick has been translated into 17 foreign languages and received international acclaim for changing the way we understand learning.
Jamey Peavler, Ed.D.
Jamey Peavler is a co-director of and full-time instructor in the Graduate Reading Science program at Mount St. Joseph University. Before joining Mount St. Joseph, Jamey served as director of training for the M.A. Rooney Foundation. In addition, she works for the National Council for Teacher Quality (NCTQ) as a higher-education textbook and teacher licensure reviewer. Her research interests include instructional design, the impact of spaced practice and interleaving to support effortful retrieval and retention of information, the role of oral language and syntactic awareness on comprehension and written expression, and foundational skills for supporting literacy in the early childhood setting.
David Rapp, Ph.D.
David Rapp is the Walter Dill Scott Professor of Education, Social Policy, and Psychology at Northwestern University. His research examines language and memory, focusing on the cognitive mechanisms responsible for successful learning and knowledge failures. This has included investigations into the influence of inaccurate information on comprehension, the evaluation of technologies that support formal and informal learning, and the iterative development of tools and curricula intended to support literacy. Rapps’ projects have been funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, the National Institute on Aging, and Meta.
Meet our host, Susan Lambert, Ed.D.
Susan Lambert is chief academic officer of literacy at Amplify and host of Science of Reading: The Podcast. Throughout her career, she has focused on creating high-quality learning environments using evidence-based practices. Lambert is a mom of four, a grandma of four, a world traveler, and a collector of stories.
As the host of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Lambert explores the increasing body of scientific research around how reading is best taught. A former classroom teacher, administrator, and curriculum developer, she’s dedicated to turning theory into best practices that educators can put right to use in the classroom, and to showcasing national models of reading instruction excellence.
Quotes
“To build a meaningful memory of something that you can hold on to and use, you have to think about it.”
“Memory is a cognitive process. It's the way the brain encodes, stores, and retrieves information.”
“You can't learn something new if it doesn't connect to something you already know.”
“The catch about writing is it's hugely important. It can help cement knowledge and long-term memory, deep knowledge, et cetera.”
“When we have knowledge in our long-term memory, all of these limitations suddenly disappear.”
“We can only work with a limited set of information and when there's too much happening in our working memory, we experience cognitive overload. Essentially, our system is overloaded and we shut down.”
“Essentially, memory is what enables us to retain knowledge, skills, and experiences, forming the foundation for all learning and cognition.”
“The resonance model of comprehension suggests when someone asks a question, lots of ideas get activated automatically in memory.”
“Your mind is very good at bringing up from memory the necessary facts, the facts that will help you given the context.”
“A lot of our students that are having difficulty are experiencing cognitive overload. So the first thing we need to think about is how are we gonna minimize that for them?”