URBAN LEGEND or PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY? Are you a teaching ninja?

Radford University Presenters: Alyssa Archer Candice Benjes-Small Susan Van Patten

Rules For each theory, your team needs to decide whether it’s an: URBAN LEGEND or PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. We will let you know when it is time to vote. Team with the most points at the end are declared teaching ninjas and win a fabulous prize!

Team Formation

Get ready....

Millennial students are excellent multitaskers; therefore, we don’t need to worry about their learning if we see them texting off-topic during class.

Urban Legend Sana, F., Weston, T., & Cepeda, N. J. (2013). Laptop multitasking hinders classroom learning for both users and nearby peers. Computers & Education, 62, Wood, E., Zivcakova, L., Gentile, P., Archer, K., De Pasquale, D., & Nosko, A. (2012). Examining the impact of off-task multi-tasking with technology on real- time classroom learning. Computers & Education, 58(1),

For e-lessons, you should include images as well as narration that duplicates on-screen text.

Urban Legend Redundancy Principle Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2003). E-Learning and the science of instruction: Proven guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer.

People learn better when content is spread over multiple classes rather than massed into one session.

Practical Pedagogy Distributed Practice Donovan, J. J., & Radosevich, D. J. (1999). A meta-analytic review of the distribution of practice effect: Now you see it, now you don’t. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84(5),

The tried and true practice of highlighting text is an optimal study practice.

Urban Legend Brown, P. C., Roediger, H. L., & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make it stick: The science of successful learning. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4-58.

In order to succeed in any field, you must practice a specific task an average of 10,000 hours.

Urban Legend Epstein, D. (2013). The sports gene: Inside the science of extraordinary athletic performance. New York, NY: Penguin Group. Goleman, D. (2013). Focus: The hidden driver of excellence. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

True or False?

Urban Legend Lalley, J. P., & Miller, R. H. (2007). The learning pyramid: Does it point teachers in the right direction? Education, 128(1), Benjes-Small, C, & Archer, A. (2014). Tales of the undead learning theories: The learning pyramid. Retrieved from the-undead-learning-theories-the-learning-pyramid/

Providing notes or partial notes before class improves learning.

Practical Pedagogy Clark, R. C., Nguyen, F., & Sweller, J. (2006). Efficacy in learning: Evidence- based guidelines to manage cognitive load. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.

In PowerPoint, have no more than four bullets per slide.

Practical Pedagogy Principle of Limited Capacity Cowan, N. (2001). The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity. Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science, 24, 87–114.

Pedagogical aids in a textbook, like bolded keywords and having discussion questions, help student performance.

Urban Legend Gurung, R. A. R., & Daniel, D. (2005). Evidence-based pedagogy: Do text-based pedagogical features enhance student learning? In D. Dunn & S. L. Chew (Eds.), Best practices for teaching introduction to psychology (pp. 41–55). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Encourage your students to use mnemonic devices to remember keywords for long term learning.

Urban Legend Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4-58.

Students who take notes longhand remember conceptual information better than those who type on a keyboard.

Practical Pedagogy Mueller, P. A., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2014). The pen is mightier than the keyboard: Advantages of longhand over laptop note taking. Psychological Science, 25(6),

Sending a welcome to students before classes starts can lead to higher student engagement.

Practical Pedagogy Wilson, J. H., Wilson, S. B., & Legg, A. M. (2012). Building rapport in the classroom and student outcomes. In Schwartz, B. M. (Ed); Gurung, Regan A. R. (Ed), Evidence-based teaching for higher education (pp ). Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association.

Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic - You need to keep in mind students’ learning styles and tailor the material accordingly to aid retention.

Urban Legend Lilienfeld, S. O. (2010). 50 great myths of popular psychology: Shattering widespread misconceptions about human behavior. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.

For simple objective test questions (T/F, multiple choice, matching) immediate feedback is better than delayed feedback.

Practical Pedagogy Shute, V. J. (2008). Focus on formative feedback. Review of Educational Research, 78(1), Dihoff, R. E., Brosvic, G. M., & Epstein, M. L. (2012). The role of feedback during academic testing: The delay retention effect revisited. The Psychological Record,53(4), 2.

Students’ attention declines after 10 minutes during lectures

Urban Legend Wilson, K., & Korn, J. (2007). Attention during lectures: Beyond ten minutes. Teaching Of Psychology, 34(2), Bunce, D. M., Flens, E A., & Neiles, K. Y. (2010). How long can students pay attention in class? A study of student attention decline using clickers. Journal of Chemical Education, 87,

And the winner is...