Tools for Practice

How teachers and leaders are incorporating the science of learning in real life

This monthly feature is focused on the nitty-gritty, where the rubber meets the road in real classrooms. Each link takes you to one educator’s solution—a science-of-learning technique, resource, or practice. It gives on-the-ground details, straight from educators and leaders, of how educators incorporated it, how they tweaked it to suit their students’ needs, and how it’s working.

Tools for Practice is an encyclopedia for educators, leaders and even parents, filled with ideas on how to implement evidence-based techniques. Have a practice you’d like to share? Message The Bell Ringer or send an email!

* Incorporating retrieval practice into daily note-taking

In a high school Spanish class, taking notes gets an upgrade to improve students’ memory of what they learned. Read the solution here.

* A more explicit chemistry lab

How to use background knowledge, explicit instruction and other elements of cognitive science to design a better science lab. Read the solution here.

* Do your students *really* know the material?

Using the ‘Brain, Book, Buddy’ technique to make students aware of what they actually know. Read the solution here.

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