Optimizing Learning through Evidence Based Teaching Practices

Presentation Description / Summary: Many of us find ourselves in teaching roles despite never having been trained how to teach. If you’ve ever wondered if you could apply-evidence based “medicine” to your teaching, this is the seminar for you! It turns out there is a lot of evidence to support some teaching strategies over others and this session will review the science while also giving ideas for practical examples to incorporate into your teaching immediately. Over the course of this interactive session, you will learn about some of the most important and relevant research that gives us insight into how we learn, and therefore how we can be more effective teachers. We will focus on four main areas related to teaching and learning: 1) working memory & long-term memory; 2) retrieval practice; 3) active learning; 4) instructional strategies. In addition, you will learn about common education myths and why you should forget about them.

Learner Outcomes: At the end of this session, you will be able to: 1. define and explain what working memory is and how you can use retrieval practice and active learning to strengthen connections in long-term memory. 2. describe at least two instructional strategies and how you will be able to implement them in your specific teaching role. 3. dispel common educations myths about learning styles, multitasking, the right-brain/left-brain fallacy, "brain games" make you smarter, and others.