Little Key Learning Podcast

Screen Time: What The Research Says

March 15, 2020 16:00 - 42 minutes - 29 MB

Who hasn't at some point seen a headline that links screen time with terrifying outcomes like diabetes, obesity, poor communication, and cancer? Many parents and teachers are understandably scared by these hair-raising headlines, leading them to feel uncomfortable about technology's increasing presence in the classroom. Right now, however, with school closures forcing teaching and learning to go digital, screens are playing a bigger role in education than ever before. So, what does the rese...

COVID-19, and the Facebook Group helping teachers around the world

March 13, 2020 22:00 - 29 minutes - 20 MB

We are in the midst of an unprecedented event in the history of education. Schools all around the world are closing simultaneously in an effort to curb the spread of Coronavirus, but learning and teaching are largely expected to continue through distance learning. School closures are not new in many parts of the world, but the scale and potential duration of these closures present unique challenges to teachers and families. Many schools are turning to technology to facilitate ongoing learn...

Behaviour Clip Charts

March 01, 2020 00:00 - 46 minutes - 32.3 MB

Managing behaviour in the classroom can be a challenge: how do you reward and recognise the good behaviour of your students? How do you record and address negative behaviour? How do you motivate students to maintain the behaviour you want to see, and change the behaviour that prevents them, and others, from learning? Many teachers turn to, or are required to use, behaviour charts such as clip charts. From smiley faces to traffic lights, and colours to pithy phrases, Pinterest and Teachers P...

Brain Gym: Does it help students learn?

February 10, 2020 00:00 - 49 minutes - 34.2 MB

Spoiler alert: No. It doesn't. Have you pushed your “Brain Buttons” lately? No? Well, have you been keeping on top of your “Ear Unlocking”? Us neither. Brain Gym is a tool used by teachers around the world on the basis of the promise that it helps students to process information faster, improves balance and coordination, and “synchronise your system”. But… does it actually work? Are the minutes and tax dollars spent on Brain Gym actually helping our students to learn? In this episode you...

Guy Claxton on Education Research

January 27, 2020 00:00 - 56 minutes - 38.9 MB

For this episode we were lucky enough to be able to talk to Guy Claxton who is a Professor, researcher, consultant and prolific author of academic papers and 30 books! You might know him best as the creator of the Learning Power Approach, about which he has recently published a fantastic 4-book series for teachers and leaders. In this interview, we chatted to Guy about education research to find out his view on: What decides the questions that education research tries to answer? What r...

Word Walls as literacy tools in a print-rich environment

January 14, 2020 08:00 - 29 minutes - 20.3 MB

Word Walls are staple features of most elementary and primary classrooms, and they are common from pre-school all the way through high school. But… how do they actually help students to learn, remember and use new words in their writing? And is there more to making word walls work than simply having them? For more information about the research behind this episode, as well as links to our sources, and a downloadable quick reference, visit our website. To connect with us, follow us on Twit...

Is homework worth the work?

January 14, 2020 08:00 - 34 minutes - 23.9 MB

Homework. Did you shudder when you read that? If so, you’re probably a parent of a child who hates it, a teacher who hates assigning it, or remember being a student who hated doing it. It’s one of those topics that really divides people: you tend to be for homework or against it but what does the research tell us about homework? Is it a worthwhile way for teachers, students, and children to spend their time? Why, or why not? How much is too much? And how can we design more effective homewor...

Designing an effective classroom learning environment

January 13, 2020 19:00 - 35 minutes - 24.5 MB

Right now, depending on your hemisphere, it's either a brand new school year or a new semester. This means that all over the globe teaches have been feverishly laminating, double and triple mounting, and dragging furniture around their rooms, all in aid of creating the best learning environment for their students. Our students spend a lot of time in our classrooms, but how can we be sure that all this hard work is actually resulting in an effective learning environment? How should we organ...

Welcome to edYou!

January 08, 2020 19:00 - 32 minutes - 22.6 MB

EdYou is all about diving into education research on the topics that affect every teacher in today’s classrooms, to work out what it means and, most importantly, what it says we should actually be doing. In the coming episodes you’ll see exactly what edYou is all about, but as you listen you might well be wondering… who exactly are we, the hosts, and why should you listen to edYou? In this introductory episode you’ll learn all about who we are, our backgrounds, our educations, our interest...

Welcome to Little Key Learning Podcast!