Policy makers have to justify the money spent on science education. During the early to mid cold war, the West … More
Category: knowledge
The Problem Solving Methods Learners Use – and How to Develop Them
Solving problems, especially in physics, has been well studied (e.g. Larkin, McDermott, Simon and Simon 1980: here and Chi, Glaser … More
Up and Down the Ladder of Abstraction
Yesterday I wrote about the importance of physical, experiential knowlegde of physics: a sense of forces and flow; of motion … More
But where is the cognitive science and the knowledge?
I’ve just received an email from TES advertising a book they are publishing titled: tes guide to STEM.I was hoping … More
A Residue of Physics
Six months ago, I was helping English trainees write a knowledge organiser for The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and … More
When knowledge is wrong…
Babies are born knowing physics. They express surprise when an object appears to be suspended in mid-air or pass through … More
What are the Cognitive Loads of reading and how can we reduce them?
Reading is a physics problem that doesn’t receive much attention in class. I think it should. Science professionals read a … More
Integrating Questions and Diagrams to Reduce Cognitive Load for Novice Physicists
I think this will be the last of my problem-solving blogs for a while – it’s a little one about … More
Using Worked Examples to Reduce Cognitive Load in Physics
Learning how to solve problems is the key to becoming a physicist (here and here). The problem with problem solving is … More
How Practical Work in Physics Supports Knowledge
Back in 1994, I began by PGCE at Oxford University. I was lucky to have a brilliant tutor, Brian Woolnough. … More
