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Diane Bunce, PhD, will give a talk on “Using Research to Change Our Perception of the Average Student” as part of the Innovations in the Undergraduate Education Speaker Series, co-sponsored by CIRCLE, The Teaching Center, the University Libraries, and Arts & Sciences Computing. The talk will take place from 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm, Wednesday November […]

The Association of American Universities (AAU) recently published a final report on the success of the AAU Undergraduate STEM initiative, which was conducted from 2011-2016.  Washington University was one of eight project sites selected for the Initiative, in which CIRCLE, The Teaching Center, and the University’s STEM departments collaborated to implement more active learning and evidence-based teaching […]

At this regional symposium, STEM faculty will discuss their recent pedagogical innovations and best practices in integrating evidence-based teaching in STEM. STEM FIT will feature a plenary by Mark McDaniel, PhD, Professor, Psychological & Brain Sciences, co-director of CIRCLE, Washington University, co-author of Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. CIRCLE Fellow Julie Bugg (Department of […]

CIRCLE brings together experienced instructors with researchers in cognitive science to work with faculty on integrating findings from cognitive science into classroom teaching, then evaluating the resulting curricular innovations. Faculty Focus recently explored this topic in a trio of posts by Maryellen Weimer, PhD. (Links to each article below are arranged in order of publication date.) Weimer […]

The Teaching Center and CIRCLE are pleased to announce 2016-2018 CIRCLE Fellow: Julie Bugg, Assistant Professor, Psychological & Brain Sciences. A collaboration between The Teaching Center, and the Center for the Integrative Research on Cognition, Learning and Education (CIRCLE), and the Office of the Provost, the two-year fellowship supports Washington University STEM faculty in designing […]

Read highlights and insights from this event: https://teachingcenter.wustl.edu/2016/12/julie-stanton-on-metacognition/ The Innovations in Undergraduate Education Speaker Series continued with a talk by Julie Stanton, PhD, (Assistant Professor of Cellular Biology; Director, Undergraduate Biology Education REU, University of Georgia). “Metacognition: How Undergraduates Self-Regulate to Learn Biology” November 14, 2016,  4:00-5:00 pm Rebstock Hall, Room 322 Students who practice metacognition can learn more […]

On August 22, Carl Wieman (Department of Physics and Graduate School of Education, Stanford University; White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, 2010-2012; Nobel Laureate in Physics) delivered a talk “Taking a Scientific Approach to Science and Engineering Education,” on research-based approaches to education, to a full house of 225 Washington University faculty, post-docs, and […]

In this talk, “Taking a Scientific Approach to Science and Engineering Education,” Carl Wieman (Department of Physics and Graduate School of Education, Stanford University;White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, 2010-2012; Nobel Prize Winner in Physics), will discuss transforming education, guided by insights from research on teaching and learning. Research on how people learn […]

CIRCLE Fellow Megan Daschbach, Lecturer in Chemistry, will present at the 2016 STEM Faculty Institute on Teaching. Drawing from her CIRCLE Fellowship project, Daschbach will offer an interactive lecture, “Insights from the Field: Integrating Clickers into General Chemistry.” STEM FIT, which provides three days in the summer for STEM faculty to focus on refining their teaching, […]

Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, co-authored by Peter C. Brown and Washington University Psychology department professors Mark McDaniel and Henry “Roddy” Roediger, helped to kick-start a teaching experiment with surprising outcomes. With the intention of helping students  to consolidate learning and clarify misconceptions, Professor Allison Vaillancourt of the University of Arizona applied McDaniel and Roediger’s suggestion […]

The POGIL Project has announced that registration is open for the POGIL Summer 2016 Regional Workshops.  The Central Region POGIL Workshops will take place July 18–20 at Washington University. The registration deadline is 4/15/2016. POGIL (Process-Oriented, Guided-Inquiry Learning) takes a student-centered, team-based, active-learning approach in which students learn key concepts and process skills such as collaboration […]

CIRCLE is delighted to be hosting Rick Moog, professor of chemistry at Franklin & Marshall College and director of the Process Oriented Guided Learning Inquiry (POGIL) Project during his sabbatical year. With the view that “knowledge is personal,” POGIL takes a student-centered, team-based, active-learning approach in which key concepts and process skills (such as collaboration […]

The Teaching Center and CIRCLE are pleased to announce the 2015-2017 CIRCLE Fellows. Daniel Giammar, Walter E. Browne Professor of Environmental Engineering, Energy, Environmental, and Chemical Engineering Jay Turner, Associate Professor & Director of Undergraduate Programs, Energy, Environmental, and Chemical Engineering Mairin Hynes, Lecturer, Physics A collaboration between The Teaching Center, and the Center for […]

This conference, co-sponsored by the Association of American Universities (AAU) and the Center for Integrative Research on Cognition, Learning, and Education (CIRCLE), will take place October 13-14, 2015 at Washington University. The purpose of the conference is to develop a network among AAU member-institutions that are focused on improving STEM education. The conference will feature presentations […]

A new study by Washington University Professor of Psychology Mark McDaniel, PhD, and recent Washington University Psychology department graduate, Dung Bui PhD, found that students retain more when they are prepared before lecture with pre-lecture outlines and diagrams that show relationships between the concepts that will be discussed. Such materials can help students organize the […]

“Pedagogy is complex . . . and needs to be thought about from various points of view,” and other reflections on CIRCLE’s new e-book appeared in a recent story in Ampersand, Washington University’s Arts & Sciences newsletter. The book, Integrating Cognitive Science with Innovative Teaching in the STEM Disciplines, recently published by the University Libraries with funding from the […]

We are pleased to announce the release of Integrating Cognitive Science with Innovative Teaching in STEM Disciplines, an e-book available now on iTunes and on Amazon. The book focuses on innovations in higher education in a variety of STEM fields and features discussions of research by cognitive and learning scientists and discipline-based STEM education researchers who […]

Radio host Tavis Smiley interviews Mark McDaniel, CIRCLE co-director and expert on human learning and memory, who offers back-to-school tips for optimal studying. In the interview, which is part of Smiley’s “Five Things You Should Know About…” series, McDaniel shares evidence-based advice on learning that is useful for students and teachers alike, including: · the danger of regarding […]

This national conference bridges the gap between learning theory and STEM education by featuring cutting-edge research on innovations in higher education in a variety of STEM fields – biology, chemistry, engineering, physics, and psychology – and pertinent research from cognitive and educational psychology. scholarly research on cognitive psychology and STEM education, this conference will produce […]

A scholarly article evaluating the Active Physics curriculum at Washington University was published this month in Physical Review Special Topics – Physics Education Research. This study, a collaboration between the Center for Integrative Research on Cognition, Learning, and Education (CIRCLE) and the Physics department at Washington University, revealed significant attitudinal and conceptual-learning benefits for students […]

In today’s edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education James Lang provides a thoughtful review of Make It Stick, praising the book’s “eminently readable” presentation of “thoroughly grounded research.” Focusing on the book’s correction to the “false distinction between memorizing and thinking,” the reviewer writes appreciatively of the authors’ work in showing learning as a layered process of gathering fundamental skills […]

Co-authored by Peter Brown, Henry Roediger, and Mark McDaniel Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, co-authored by Peter Brown (Writer), Henry Roediger (Washington University in St. Louis), and Mark McDaniel (Washington University in St. Louis), draws on recent discoveries in cognitive psychology to offer concrete techniques that can help people become better learners. […]

Washington University faculty from across the disciplines will convene on January 9, 2014 to share insights and ideas on teaching and learning at this day-long symposium. Visit the iTeach site for more information and to explore past iTeach symposia.

July 23-25, 2013 Washington University will host the POGIL 3-day regional workshop provides instructors from both high schools and colleges/universities with all levels of POGIL experience significant opportunities to enhance their professional development by gaining new insights into teaching and learning. There will be a sequence of workshop sessions specifically designed for those who are […]

Washington University’s proposal for the AAU initiative was developed by Regina F. Frey, PhD, the university’s inaugural Florence E. Moog Professor of STEM Education in Chemistry; Mark A. McDaniel, PhD, Professor of Psychology in Arts & Sciences; Kathryn G. Miller, PhD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Biology in Arts & Sciences; and Kurt […]

What is STEM ERG? Washington University’s STEM Education Research Group (ERG) brings together a diverse group of faculty and staff members interested in research on teaching and learning in STEM. The group represents an array of fields, including Biology, Chemistry, Education, Physics, Psychology, and Engineering, as well as the Institute for School Partnership, The Teaching Center, […]

Discussing new and innovative approaches for the teaching of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) is the primary goal of an interdisciplinary conference scheduled for Sept. 27-28 at the Charles F. Knight Executive Education & Conference Center at Washington University in St. Louis. Titled “Integrating Cognitive Science with Innovative Teaching in STEM Disciplines,” the conference […]

Members of the Luce consortium met at Washington University for two days in June to plan for the expansion of the Learning Approaches study, which will be adding six additional institutions. Data collection will occur this fall semester with preliminary analysis starting in the spring semester. For more information about the Learning Approaches study, please […]