Uncommon Sense Teaching: Part 2, Building Community and Habits of Learning

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Provider

Coursera
Pricing

Paid Course
Languages

English
Certificate

Paid Certificate Available
Duration & workload

13 hours 36 minutes
Sessions

On-Demand
Subtitles

English, Kazakh, German, Hindi, Russian, Swedish, Korean, Portuguese, Greek, Italian, French, Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, Thai, Ukrainian, Japanese, Indonesian, Polish, Dutch, Turkish, Hungarian, Bengali, Pashto, Urdu, Azerbaijani, Farsi

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Part of

Uncommon Sense Teaching

5.0

Overview

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In Part 2 of Uncommon Sense Teaching: Building Community and Habits of Learning, you will explore the following areas more deeply—helping you to connect with the latest insights into research and have fun while you are doing it! • The hidden strengths of neurodiversity: Dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, and other syndromes that relate to learning • The value of forgetting • How to use habits formed by the procedural system to help you with classroom management • Judicious use of rewards to motivate students (too many rewards can de-motivate) • How to avoid educational fads • The power of lesson plans This is like no other course on teaching—it weaves late-breaking insights from neuroscience with personal insights from the classroom to provide unexpected, yet practical, new approaches. You’ll discover how to bring out the best from all your students in today’s diverse teaching environment, where students often have a wide range of abilities. Uncommon Sense Teaching will take your teaching to a higher level for whatever subjects you teach, whether math, physics, literature, dance, art, or anything else; and whether you are teaching K-12, university, business, vocational, or at home. Join us today to move into the new era of education!

Syllabus

Week 1: Motivation, Stress, and Character Change

This week’s materials cover motivation, stress, and character change—vitally important topics for us as teachers. We’ll learn about the importance of surprise in learning—part of what can make good teaching both surprising and rewarding! We’ll also discover why we like to say that “Curiosity is Queen” —and why being taken by surprise can be a very good thing when it comes to learning. We’ll also learn about the “Drama King"—that is, the amygdala—which can underpin some of our subconscious biases. And we’ll begin setting the stage to understand why cramming is so effective. At least, for short periods of time! Neuroscience is uncovering new insights about motivation. This brings us to a seemingly different area—unreachable, unteachable students who can tell you exactly what you want to hear, without any internal motivation for change no matter what you may do to try to motivate them. Perhaps surprisingly—bullying isn’t just a problem for students—it can actually be a problem amongst teachers themselves, with some of the best teachers bearing the brunt of the bullying behavior. But guess what—sometimes our best approach to help students sail successfully through stressful situations in life is to simply do what we teachers are born to do—teach with passion and with heart. All this, and more, in this week’s videos!

Week 2: How to Reach and Teach Both Procedural and Declarative Pathways

This week, we’ll learn how the brain decides whether to make some mental or physical task conscious or nonconscious—it all depends on how often we do it! We’ll also be sneaking in through both the front and back doors of the brain’s different learning systems. Of course, both declarative and procedural ways of learning can have advantages and drawbacks. But as we’ll see, having information deposited in procedural sets of links can be like having a nicely wrapped package of movements or thoughts that a student's working memory can automatically grab onto, instead of having to think through each tiny movement or thought individually. This can not only speed students’ learning—it can even make classroom management easier. Using the magic of the procedural system, your classroom can run like a well-oiled machine, seemingly without you doing anything!

Week 3: Intellectual Humility, Critical Thinking, and Bias

This week is full of surprises as we dig deeper into the advantages and disadvantages of faster and slower types of learning. Who knew that those who struggle with their learning—our hikers—can actually be more accurate with what they learn? For them, it can be easier to flexibly accept and change their minds when the data shows they are wrong. On the other hand, our race cars, who can learn faster and remember better, can also find it difficult to accept when they’re wrong. And all this relates in a very deep way, as you’ll see, with our ability to think critically. Join us as we explore all these ideas, and more, in this week’s videos! (And don’t forget, there’s plenty of optional extra info in the readings!)

Week 4: Neurodiversity, Student Groups, and Charting Your Course to the Finish Line!

Syndromes such as dyslexia or attention deficit disorder can sometimes exert subtle effects that can make learning more difficult even though no diagnosis has been made. Other times, as with famed director Steven Spielberg and his dyslexia, a student's learning challenges can simply escape detection altogether. For teachers of these students, the best approach is to nurture these students’ ways of learning, rather than forcing them to learn like the majority of other students. Surprisingly often, this involves teaching more toward the procedural system for some students, and more toward the declarative system for others. All of this means that careful planning of your lessons is in order. What do we mean by careful planning? That's the subject of our final videos--we'll give you a template and insights to help guide your activities and allow you to soar in your teaching!

Taught by

Barbara Oakley, Beth Rogowsky and Dr. Terrence Sejnowski

Reviews

4.9 rating, based on 124 Class Central reviews

4.9 rating at Coursera based on 129 ratings

Start your review of Uncommon Sense Teaching: Part 2, Building Community and Habits of Learning

Mauricio Arrieta @Marrieta
1

This course was brilliant. Perhaps the most exciting new concept was that of dopamine, a hormone presented by the media as the one in charge of pleasure and reward, but within the context of learning. I did feel pleasure while learning this element…

This course was brilliant. Perhaps the most exciting new concept was that of dopamine, a hormone presented by the media as the one in charge of pleasure and reward, but within the context of learning. I did feel pleasure while learning this element and I shared this thought with my students and teachers colleagues and enjoyed furthermore their reactions. I almost could see the tiny dopamine explosions and it is just a conversation starter, an excellent “hook”, as the uncommon sense teachers would claim. Thanks so much for this wonderful set of courses. Going for the third and final one.

I have to say though, there are several topics in which I would love to discuss alternatives in Education Design. For instance, direct instruction, as a patter of conferences and active session is rather simplistic. Fusing the concepts from uncommon sense teaching with the conversational learning framework from Laurillard (2012) would make marvelous to further synthesize and improve the communication among educators as collaborators.
Sonal P Patel @sonal
52

Wow! Another great class from a wonderful team. I loved this class! This class goes deeper into the concepts covered in part 1 and covers more material on different learning styles. This class is a must for any teacher/educator and of course any c…

Wow! Another great class from a wonderful team. I loved this class! This class goes deeper into the concepts covered in part 1 and covers more material on different learning styles. This class is a must for any teacher/educator and of course any curious learner, to expand their understanding of teaching and learning!

I would recommend you do this class at a slower pace, review some great references and be grateful when you make mistakes in quizzes. This team provides us with great feedback that is by itself a great learning resource to supplement the course content! I appreciate all the hard work put in to make and teach such a wonderful class in a novel way that deepens our understanding of teaching and learning. I will continue to visit this class often, as and when I need help with quality material for teaching for my personal development.

Can not wait to see the next class --Part 3, where Prof. David Joyner will add his expertise to teach about online education. What a great journey with wonderful teachers, passionate about teaching online, as well as in the classroom!
Gilberto Collazo @papo7575
5

Uncommon Sense Teaching Part 2 is a very informative course. Thorough study of the course will give you a more understanding at what is really going on in the brain while we learn. Supported by scientific research, which is also included in the course and also in depth books, scientific articles and a lot of supporting material for a deeper understanding of the subject is available. Excellent learning experience for all diversity of students.
Anonymous

El contenido es bueno en su lenguaje, ofrece conocimiento técnico en educación, pero los videos o la información presentada es de más de 5 minutos afectando la permanencia de la atención. Si bien, capacita al maestro En el tema rema o en el Campo de aprendizaje desde la arquitectura neuronal, la argumentación se torna en modo de distractor por información no relevante en su función de la construcción del saber y saber hacer
Anonymous

El curso ofrece una perspectiva integral sobre los sistemas declarativo y procedimental, fundamentales en el proceso de aprendizaje. El sistema declarativo facilita la adquisición de conocimientos teóricos, mientras que el procedimental impulsa la aplicación práctica de estos saberes. Además, el curso resalta la importancia de diversificar estrategias pedagógicas considerando la neurodiversidad, lo cual enriquece el proceso formativo y garantiza que cada estudiante pueda aprender de acuerdo con sus particularidades cognitivas. En este sentido, la propuesta promueve entornos inclusivos y adaptativos, fundamentales para una educación más equitativa y significativa.
Anonymous

Such an informative and eye-opening course. Enjoyed every part of it. I'd recommend to anyone who wants to improve their teaching skills or learning design skills.
Anonymous

Excellent. Very practical. Immediately Implementable. Highly recommended not just for teachers but also for students
Anonymous

Very clear with visuals, prompts, cues and repetition. It took me months to finish, but I can recall what I've learnt by the end of it, the teaching methods works for me.
Fredy Antonio Díaz Cárdenas

Es un curso completo, didáctico, dinámico y que trata temas relevantes y actuales en el marco de la educación. Me gustó la claridad de los conceptos y la ejemplificación para la comprensión de los conceptos fundamentales. Algo que me parece muy valioso, además de la estructura y la información presentada es la amplia bibliografía seleccionada que ofrece. Totalmente recomendado.
Anonymous

I think, with the amount of snake-oil teaching strategies popping up (specially thanks to AI) nowadays, getting a grasp on how the brain learns and how to take advantage of this to be a great teacher is extremely important.
I loved the course, the pacing, and the attitude embedded in each session by Barbara, Beth and Terry.

Learn it, link it, let's do this!
Anonymous

This course is not only for teachers but for any person who occasionally teaches or trains people, whether adults or kids.
Anonymous

While I was aware that learning differences exist, I wasn't clear on how to recognize them and how I can adjust my lessons to accommodate all types of learners. Understanding the science behind how the brain works gives me a basis for trying new methods. This course is not didactic but inspirational, inviting all teachers to build on new scientific methods to continually improve the classroom experience for all.
Anonymous

It refreshed the concepts seen in the first course and was more practical in the sense that it guided us in doing the lesson plans.
Anonymous

Uncommon Sense Teaching can be a game-changer for educators. It will certainely teach a lot, the quantity of new information will of course depends on of your previous formation. The course blends neuroscience with practical classroom strategies in…

Uncommon Sense Teaching can be a game-changer for educators. It will certainely teach a lot, the quantity of new information will of course depends on of your previous formation. The course blends neuroscience with practical classroom strategies in a way that’s both engaging and easy to apply. I especially appreciated the clear explanations of working memory, long-term learning, and the importance of retrieval practice. The presenters are knowledgeable and warm, making complex concepts feel accessible. I may not always agreed on some parties pris or points of view, but there can help to change perspective at time and offered some inside (about bullying especially. I do not share all of what has been said.) If you have zero or little knowledge about neurodiversity it will be a nice introduction to it but do not do the 3 main modules if neurodiversity is your main goal, just dive in directly. Highly recommended for anyone in education!
Anonymous

I learned a lot trough this course and I will definitely improve how I do group work and also how I prepare my lessons. All the exemples were great .
the part on the research was a bit too long.
Thank you for sharing your insigths ..
Anonymous

Es un excelente curso que proporciona herramientas que se requieren para planificar un curso en línea o presencial.
Anonymous

Big thanks to Terry Sejnowski, Beth Rogowsky, and Barb Oakley for the Uncommon Sense Teaching course on Coursera. It was clear, practical, and packed with brain-based strategies to improve classroom learning. Highly recommended for all educators!
Anonymous

This course expands the neuroscience of learning from course 1. It shows hoe the amygdala influences learning and behavior. The material has direct application to classroom activities at the most basic level. The information on "value function" can be extended to the USA's politics to explain why people favor conspiracy over truth.
Zsuzsanna Kispál-Vitai
2

I have done all the MOOCs that were taught by Barabara Oakley. The first one changed my life, was "Learning How To Learn". Uncommon Sense Teaching 1 and 2 gave me more motivation to teach, explanations about how students learn, and how we teachers s…

I have done all the MOOCs that were taught by Barabara Oakley. The first one changed my life, was "Learning How To Learn". Uncommon Sense Teaching 1 and 2 gave me more motivation to teach, explanations about how students learn, and how we teachers should use this information in our work. I learned again new information and new ideas, both scientific - which was great - and practical - which was useful. The videos are not only very well done and highly professional but also great fun to watch. I did this course in the final race of our spring semester and I watched them as a bonus after having finished a day's work. I highly appreciate the work that went into creating this course and I am trying to convince my Ph.D. students to do it as well. We teach at the university level, so we should do it the most effective way possible. These Uncommon Sense courses are giving us missing knowledge. Thank you all who have worked with this course, the lecturers, designers, the people who made our learning possible!
Anonymous

Me encanta el curso. Me ha ayudado mucho a entender el proceso de aprendizaje. Me parece que son imprescindibles para cualquier profesor. Recomiendo hacerlo.