If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart. (N.Mandela) Our children’s world revolves around using huge amounts of highly advanced accessible technology. Surrounded by computers and social media, children “chat” more than ever, but spend less […]
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Late July and August, you’ll often find me settled in a deck chair, enjoying the sunshine and summer breeze on my skin, cool drink in one hand, book in the other. Bliss! The book will almost certainly be a psychology title, and every so often it leads me to reflect upon and ponder life a […]
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Milgram’s obedience studies are amongst the most famous in all of psychology and taught to all psychology students. But if you think you know all about them, chances are that a new film from shortcuts tv, Beyond Milgram, will get you thinking again. When Professors Alex Haslam and Steve Reicher asked samples of psychology students […]
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It’s with an element of retrospective frustration that I regard my early years of teaching. Keen to learn the trade and to teach as well as possible, I kept my head down, taught 5-6 lessons a day, planned and marked almost exclusively alone and all within the same four walls. I often passed up opportunities […]
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“Fieldwork makes geography come to life, puts everything into context in glorious 3D and helps students really grasp how geography literally shapes the world around us.” Kate Humble, BBC Springwatch presenter (taken from Parkinson, 2009) It doesn’t take long to persuade a geography teacher of the benefits of fieldwork and even less time to encourage […]
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Every September, a special event takes place at Harvard University. Scientists gather in the Sanders Theatre for the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony. If you haven’t come across this before then check it out. The Ig Nobels are like real Nobel prizes except that they are given to science that makes you laugh and then makes you think. At […]
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It’s not true to say that all teaching’s better with stories – but there’s enough truth in this exaggeration that I feel like saying it anyhow, and I hope that even TOK teachers will forgive me my hyperbole. Stories can catch student interest, illustrate points, and open up lots of questions. I’ve just read one […]
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Psychology is an amazing subject to teach. Whether you are teaching GCSE or supervising a PhD, we are lucky enough to spend our days understanding how people think, feel and behave. Psychology is a popular subject with students, and it is easy to engage them in understanding how mental health conditions are treated, or how […]
Read moreIn a recent blog post , I talked about the way in which the much-praised Asian education systems are rethinking their ‘grades are everything’ approach to education. It is encouraging to see that they are beginning to realise the importance of a more holistic, child-friendly approach, though I worry that for some years we in the UK […]
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I could not do my job without my science technicians. They have my back when I have forgotten things, they trial experiments and they are always on hand to help me develop new kinaesthetic ways to teach. Four years ago, my lab technician Bev Lewell pulled me aside and asked for a favour. She had […]
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