This is #7 in a series of 7 posts explaining SYNAPSE.

Learn to Exercise your neurons by following these steps, based on what we know about retrieval practice, reconsolidation, synaptic plasticity, and connected learning.

This is #6 in a series of 7 posts explaining SYNAPSE.

Learn to appreciate and harness the power of sleep by practicing the following steps, based on what we know about sleep and memory, as well as glymphatic clearance.

This is #5 in a series of 7 posts explaining SYNAPSE.

“Personalize” your studies by practicing the following steps, based on what we know about the role of our amygdala in emotion, learning, and memory.

This is #4 in a series of 7 posts explaining SYNAPSE.

Learn to “Associate” by practicing the following steps, based on what we know about memory consolidation, concept mapping, assimilation, and accommodation.

This is #3 in a series of 7 posts explaining SYNAPSE.

Learn to “Narrate” by practicing the following steps, based on what we know about schemas, storytelling, and memory.

This is #2 in a series of 7 posts explaining SYNAPSE.

Say Yes! Practice the following strategies, grounded in what we know about mindset, experiential learning, and habit formation.

This is #1 in a series of 7 posts explaining SYNAPSE.

Learn to Simplify your approach to complex topics by following a few ground rules based on what we know about attention, complexity, cognitive load, and stress.

A “less is more” approach has best supported our kids this spring, as they navigate a range of experiences and learning environments. I’ve completed every assignment alongside my students, to better understand the scope, load, and flow of our pilot online curriculum. So, what have I gleaned from my students’ feedback as well as my own remote learning experience?

Less is indeed more! Extended time for iteration and reflection makes learning vital, meaningful, and memorable - whether it takes place in the classroom or at home.

Students adjusting to learning at home experience a range of emotions, depending on personal circumstances. Each day can look and feel a bit different, with motivation sometimes zapped entirely. What should we teach our young people during this time? Kids of all ages love to study themselves! What better place to start than a 360 view of their own learning?

When independent work is required, students will benefit from structuring their time and committing to one task without distractions. This is where parents can help by 1) setting clear expectations, 2) minimizing the time kids spend at their study spots, and 3) cooling down the drama(!) A lesson from SYNAPSE offers some inspiration!

If you parent a child under the age of 14, you’re likely cohabitating with a good deal of slime. No doubt, it has consumed all the glue you bought at the start of the year, emptied your shaving cream stock and caused your supply of food containers to vanish. Like me, you may reach your wits’ end when recognizing slime “tracks” behind the microwave, above your kitchen faucet, and in multiple compartments of your refrigerator/freezer.

So what’s the upside to this daily sacrifice (apart from continual smiles and squeals of joy)!?!

Your child is living - and learning deeply - the scientific method!

Just how much CAN a high school student accomplish in several months, working 1-2 hours per day on a research project?

In her study of extracellular matrix enzymes and neuronal regeneration, Claudia Shin, PA '12 was able to:

1) design, carry-out, and publish a study comprised of several specific aims

2) collaborate with two professional research teams

3) learn statistical analyses required to interrogate her data and interpret her observations

4) submit, revise and publish an article in the Journal of Experimental Secondary Science

I currently teach at a private institution with a healthy endowment. How can I possibly say that we do research on a budget?

Even with a wonderful laboratory and science center to house our program, I still run a lab on a very tight annual allowance for expendables. For my scientist friends out there, we have about 20 kids completing yearlong projects for less than most professional labs spend in a day.

TRUE - we have received some fancy gifts, such as a fluorescent scope and camera, for which we are eternally grateful.

ALSO TRUE! - we perform cutting-edge, publishable research that does not require specialized equipment or much $$$. The methods and models I shall describe are supported generously by companies and non-profit consortia committed to seeing young scholars engaged in "hands on" science. Many of these methods are easily scalable for use in core biology classes with students of all levels

How do students become activated and remain activated, sustainably, through the ups and downs of laboratory research? It’s all about the spirit of the endeavor and how their research efforts are framed at the very beginning.

In my last post, Finis Origine Pendet, I outlined our research course and detailed the instructional laboratory exercises that take place during our first few weeks together. Here, I offer tips for promoting a growth mindset in the lab.

1 - Activate Curiosity

2 - Require Novelty

3 - Choose Your Playing Field

The end depends on the beginning. But….where (and how) does one begin?

Here I offer my philosophy regarding the assessment of student work, as well as an outline of our guided research course.

Students begin this experiential course with quite varied backgrounds. Many have never stepped into a laboratory before, while others have spent an entire summer (or more) working in a professional lab. That said, it’s essential to grade them based on demonstrations of scholarship and academic growth rather than achievement alone.

As they are each presented with an open-ended opportunity to develop themselves as scholars, beyond the limits of a normal classroom, I assess both their SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT as well as their GROWTH MINDSET.

In an age where access to information is virtually automatic, our kids need to learn how to get down to brass tacks - to begin and, most importantly, to complete inquiries with fearlessness, organization, precision and heart. Many of our student researchers go on to pursue majors and, ultimately, careers in biomedicine or biotechnology, but a fair number of them do not. I would argue quite strongly that the executive skills they hone while carrying out their own research projects are fully transferable to any new field of study, be that economics, law, journalism or art.

I can think of no better way to kick off this blog than to call our attention to a bit of advice offered by one of my personal heroes, George Church, PA ‘72. A few years ago, Sally Holm and I had the opportunity to interview George for the Andover Magazine, Winter 2012 issue (pp 24-27). We were obviously quite curious to hear what he had to say about his education and teachers. What were those early, critical influences that helped to shape such a famously fearless and intensely productive mind? We never imagined George would offer us an entire afternoon’s worth of heart-felt remembrances. Giants can (sometimes) be even bigger in person...