It is the bias that makes teaching much harder than we imagine and it reveals something profound about how our minds work.
What is it? Let me explain🧵 Cognitive load theory proposes a simplified model of the mind (not the brain). In this model, the mind has two main components: working memory and long-term memory.

The largest education experiment ever run is one that most teachers and even many education professors do not know about.

Why? It is an intriguing story 🧵 In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced that the U.S. government funded Head Start program for pre-school children was going to be expanded into the early grades.

Unfortunately, Congress chose to vote him only a fraction of the money needed.

Why are we stuck with such mediocre K-12 education systems in the Western world? Why do they not compete with those of the Far East?

Let me explain 🧵 Not long after the emergence of mass education in the nineteenth century, there came a reaction.
'Progressive education' sought to remedy what adherents thought were the wrongs of the nineteenth century school house: Too much structure. Too much memorisation. Too much discipline.
Intellectuals joined organisations such as America's Progressive Education Association (PEA) and drew on ideas of enlightenment philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau (who placed his own five children in an orphanage).

It is legitimate to question whether special educational needs and disabilities are being over diagnosed. It does not mean you hate kids with these needs. Quite the reverse. Over diagnosis leads to a lack of resources. So let's look at some evidence 1/6 In Michigan, the "youngest students in a kindergarten cohort are 40% more likely (p < .001) to be placed in special education than are the oldest students, and... this effect persists through eighth grade." 2/6
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00…

Typical anecdote driven reporting. Thanks @ktibus for alerting me. The article tells the story of one kid who was apparently unfairly suspended after… checks notes… “hitting and kicking two teacher aides” 1/10

abc.net.au/news/2024-09-2… Do those teacher aides not have a right to a safe working environment? Does QAI CEO Matilda Alexander consider this a ‘silly reason’ for a suspension? We don’t know because the @abcnews journalists didn’t think to ask 2/10

As a CLT researcher, I do not recommend an incomplete and limited understanding of CLT. That’s not a good thing.

https://twitter.com/MrGoodwin23/status/1468678975706775562

Instead, I would recommend a more complete, fully developed understanding of CLT.

When @KemiBadenoch stood up in the UK parliament and claimed that teaching CRT as fact is against the law, she could not have been more explicit. She gave the example of teaching white privilege. 1/10 It’s been interesting to see the reaction from those who are deeply into this stuff - some of them making a living from it 2/10

In 2016, the media I was consuming left me completely unprepared for the result of the Brexit Referendum and the election of Trump. I decided I needed a more heterodox mix if I didn’t want to be fooled again 1/8 Because grown-ups can read a source they disagree with, right? I looked for some conservative voices to add to the mix. In more recent times, one I visit frequently is @TheCriticMag 2/8

Be aware that there is a journal called Creative Education published by Scientific Research Publishing (SCIRP). The Wikipedia page for SCIRP contains a number of interesting links 1/4 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientifi… One of those is to the Retraction Watch log of stories involving SCIRP papers 2/4 retractionwatch.com/category/by-pu…

“Teacher quality” was measured using classroom observations. sciencedirect.com/science/articl… Sorry - “Teaching quality”

A thread on ways to falsify cognitive load theory. 1/10 Take relative novices learning something complex and literacy based such as learning to read, write paragraphs, do maths operations, balance equations (yes, I consider the last two to be specialised forms of literacy). Then show one of the following: 2/10