'magnifying glass' photo (c) 2005, Tall Chris - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

I often write about research studies from various fields and how they can be applied to the classroom. I write individual posts about ones that I think are especially significant, and will continue to do so. However, so many studies are published that it’s hard to keep up. So I’ve started writing a “round-up” of some of them each week or every other week as a regular feature.

By the way, you might also be interested in My Best Posts On New Research Studies In 2014 – Part Two.

Here are some new useful studies (and related resources):

Predictions produce interest is a post from Annie Murphy Paul. It provides more evidence for why most of us teach prediction as a reading strategy, and why we use it as an instructional strategy, too.

How Reading Transforms Us
is a New York Times article about some recent research. Here’s an excerpt:

“…we measured our participants’ personality traits and emotions before and after reading. We had expected that people who read a piece of fiction would experience the greatest fluctuation in their personality scores, but we didn’t find this. The genre of the text — fiction or nonfiction — didn’t matter much; what mattered was the degree of perceived artistry. Those who read a story or essay that they judged to be artistic changed their personality scores significantly more than did those who judged what they read to be less artistic.”

I’m adding it to The Best Resources On “Becoming What We Read.”

Science Shows Something Surprising About People Who Still Read Fiction is from Mic. I’m adding it to the same list.

Burning the Candle: Most US Kids Lack Sleep is from NBC News and reports on a recent study. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Helping Teens Learn About The Importance Of Sleep.

Feeling Socially Connected Fuels Intrinsic Motivation And Engagement is from the Shanker Blog, and provides an overview of some potentially useful research.

I’ve embedded a chart below that compares how long many different emotions last. Boy, we teachers need to study it and reflect on which ones we think our students feel when they’re in our classrooms:

I’m adding it to The Best Posts On Classroom Management.

Studying for the Test by Taking It is from The New York Times and reports on recent research. It has a broad definition of “test” and is pretty interesting.

Learning from Live Theater is from Education Next and reviews research on the value of taking students on field trips.

Kids Who Exercise Don’t Sweat Tests is from Scientific American. I’m adding it to The Best Resources On How Exercise Helps Learning.

New knowledge about human brain’s plasticity is a report from Science Daily. Most of it isn’t particularly interesting, but it does make some useful comments about myelin, which I discuss in Deliberate Practice, Myelin & The Brain. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Showing Students That They Make Their Brain Stronger By Learning.