Introducing Season 3: Literacy and the Science of Learning

How is the Science of Reading connected to the Science of Learning? Join hosts Dylan Wiliam, Doug Lemov, and Natalie Wexler as they delve into the links between the two, both in theory and practice, in Season 3 of the Knowledge Matters Podcast. Across six 30-minute episodes, we’ll explore how long-term memory shapes reading comprehension, why reading whole books is better than excerpts on a screen, and how teaching students to write clearly can help them think more clearly, in conversation with researchers and teachers.

“We want our students to remember. That’s the goal!”

This podcast is produced by the Knowledge Matters Campaign and StandardsWork. Follow the Knowledge Matters Campaign on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Search #knowledgematters to join the conversation.

Additional resources:

• Dylan Wiliam - Developing Curriculum for Deep Thinking: The Knowledge Revival
• Doug Lemov - The Teach Like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading
• Natalie Wexler - Beyond the Science of Reading

Production by Tressa Versteeg. Original music and sound engineering by Aidan Shea.

Transcript

Patrice Bain

We want our students to remember. That is the goal! Being able to have our students use this knowledge, to retrieve this information.

Lori Hughes 

And then it's really exciting to hear them when they're all at the same time - [gasps]. And they have reactions altogether as they're reading, and so you can see more of their interest and their joy for reading.

Justin Overracker

You're building on years of helping students write with clarity and with purpose and confidence across disciplines. And let's be real, like, these are skills that are very essential for college and career and life. L-I-F-E.

Barbara Davidson

Welcome to the Knowledge Matters Podcast Season 3, which we’ve titled Literacy and the Science of Learning. I’m Barbara Davidson, the executive director of the Knowledge Matters Campaign.

During this series, we’ll be exploring what’s going on in the brain when students learn and what impact that has on how we go about developing strong readers, writers, and thinkers

Our hosts for the season are three uniquely dedicated and talented individuals who happen to also be fantastic communicators about all things literacy-related - Dylan Wiliam, Doug Lemov, and Natalie Wexler. 

Each of them has written a recent book that looks at literacy and the science of learning, which they’ll draw from, while talking with researchers and educators along the way. 

Dylan Wiliam

I’m Dylan Wiliam, co-author of Developing Curriculum for Deep Thinking: The Knowledge Revival. In the first two episodes, I’ll take you through the science of how learning and memory are intertwined. And how building knowledge is key to helping students learn more by easing the working burden on their brains.

John Sweller

We are transformed once we have information in long-term memory, which we can transfer back into working memory. We become different people. It's truism to say education is transformational. That's why it's transformational.

Doug Lemov

I’m Doug Lemov, co-author of the Teach Like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading. I’ll explain how often hidden skills like fluency and attention are the foundations of reading and comprehension. And we’ll study how using physical texts, instead of screens, and reading whole books are crucial to improved learning at all grade levels. 

David Paige

So fluency is not an afterthought. This is the end result that is really critical to comprehension. 

Natalie Wexler

And I’m Natalie Wexler, author of Beyond the Science of Reading: Connecting Literacy Instruction to the Science of Learning. The last two episodes will take the science of learning beyond reading, into the realm of writing. I’ll explain how writing instruction, in any academic subject, can help all students become better thinkers and more confident learners. 

Tamla South

Once they start getting into it, you saw it! You  saw  them  building quality sentences. And  so  therefore,  those  quality  sentences gave them clearer thoughts.

Barbara Davidson

Episode 1 drops June 24. New episodes will air every Tuesday, through July 29. Subscribe to the Knowledge Matters Podcast on your favorite podcast app, so you don’t miss an episode of Season 3: Literacy and the Science of Learning.