Top 5 ways to learn about new research (have you heard of number 4?)

Do you enjoy putting research into action and staying on top of cutting edge research?

Read on for our top 5 tips for finding, accessing, and reading bona fide research from the science of learning!

There's a lot of research to sift through. It's often intimidating and tough to access. Don't despair. You can access science straight from the source – scientists, academic journals, and professional organizations – it just takes a little know-how. Quench your thirst for scientific knowledge and transform your classrooms with rigorous research. Here's to science!

P.S. We hope you downloaded our new Spacing Guide last week. We've included hyperlinks to top notch research and scientific articles – straight from the source. Read, click, and share!

Top 5 tips for keeping up with research

 
 

Hungry for rigorous scientific research on learning, as soon as it's published? Here are our top 5 tips for getting started:

  1. Follow us on Twitter (@RetrieveLearn) and Facebook (/retrievalpractice)! Yes, this is a shameless plug, but anytime we come across rigorous and actionable research by cognitive scientists, we share it. We want it in your hands. We follow the research and we hope you'll follow us.
     

  2. Follow cognitive scientists on Twitter. We put together a list. More and more scientists are sharing their newest publications online. So easy!
     

  3. Set up a few alerts at alerts.google.com. Create a daily or weekly alert for research keywords ("metacognition"), scientists ("Katherine Rawson"), teaching strategies ("brain dumps"), or anything you'd like!
     

  4. Use Google Scholar (scholar.google.com) to search for research. Type in a keyword, scientist, etc. and happy surfing. You can filter by publication date, directly download free PDFs, and more. So many people don't know about this wonderful resource! Highly recommended.
     

  5. Subscribe to table of contents announcements from cognitive science and psychology journals. This takes more leg work, but if you dedicate an hour or two, you'll be good to go. You do not need to subscribe to the journal. You can receive table of contents for free. Here are our recommended journals!

Recommended List of Journals

Our recommended list of journals (just a few of many!): Journal of Educational Psychology, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, Psychological Science, and Psychological Science in the Public Interest.

How do you stay current with research and the science of learning? Comment below and share!

Read our Research Snapshots!

 
 

Did you know that we've got a range of Research Spotlights that are digestible, quick, and actionable? They're perfect for a quick read, and also a resource you can share with parents, colleagues, and even students.

We've covered everything from multiple-choice questions and metacognition, to student anxiety and STEM learning. How do strategies including retrieval, spacing, interleaving, and feedback compare to other teaching strategies? Find out from our Research Snapshots: retrievalpractice.org/research